J. Colima Bajado
There must be something wrong with us.
Tacloban, the eastern Visayas capital, celebrated its fiesta last week, June 30. When I heard that the Pintados-Kasadyaan festival parade was blocked by Tacloban's TOMECO and other city personnel, I was not surprised. In superficial, it is Sangyaw versus Pintados-Kasadyaan festivals. But straightforwardly, it is a politically-driven agenda.
I am not apathetic to the ongoing political squabble between the provincial government of Leyte and the HUC government of Tacloban. But I will put that matter to one side. My emphasis here will be the celebration of fiesta. Theoretically, fiesta is a religious endeavor, thus, apolitical. But in the case of Tacloban, it shows otherwise. There must be really something wrong with us.
Fiesta is a thanksgiving celebration in honor to the patron saint of the town for all its intercessory marvels. The celebration of fiestas in eastern Visayas can be traced back to the introduction of Christianity by the Spanish conquistadores in the 1500s.
The early Visayans unreservedly embraced this celebration for this is not uncommon to their pag-anito (offering) to their deities. This celebration is much closely related to the type of pag-anito called pagtigma, or literally means “to congregate” or “to gather”. The person who summons the villagers to the pagtigma, by shouting in top of tall trees, is called “parayawyaw”. The celebration revolves on the thanksgiving and asking favors to their gods. Regardless of its animistic nature, it was purely religious.
At present, fiestas are more colorful with overture activities, such as the festival of festivals- the Kasadyaan in the case of Leyte. In the Visayan capitals, Cebu is noted for its Sinulog, Kalibo for Ati-Atihan, and Ilo-ilo for Dinagyang. All these three festivals are well established and rooted to their respective cultures.
What about the Pintados-Kasadyaan and Sangyaw festivals? Some of us are informed (but unfortunately many of us are not) that Pintados festival is based on the “painted” men and women, as the Spaniards describe our natives. And Kasadyaan, they say, is a Visayan term for “merriment” and “jollity”. Furthermore, “Sangyaw” means “to herald a news”. How are these festivals rooted to our cultural history?
Pintados entails to the tattooed natives. Tattooing is actually not peculiar to our region. It is in fact practiced all over the different regions of the country. Jesuit Father Ignacio Alcina wrote in 1600s that almost every Bisayan has a painted body as early as twenty years old, except the women, who paint a portion of their hands only. Bur generally, tattooing is a presentation of one’s “nobility, achievements or heroic feats”. But how do we see this in the Pintados festival of Tacloban? Does is coincide with the cultural roots of our region? Pintados by the way is a Spanish term. Pagpatik is a more appropriate word.
I cannot find the word “kasadyaan” in any Waray dictionary, and probably from my ignorance, I thought this word might be derived from the Tagalog “sadya”, or perhaps, from a Sebuano lexicon. And from my imperfect mastery of our language, I only know “kalipayan” and “kamaribhong” as words that will suffice the word merriment. While “sangyaw”, as far as I know means “to proclaim”. Then, to proclaim what?
More than that, we should couple these supposed culture-rooted undertakings with a “religious” spirit, for fiesta is primarily a church celebration. This is a time for prayer and thanksgiving for all the bounties we received. This is not a time for pageantry of politicians- our first problem. Secondly, we are all ignorant of our own culture, much less of its essence. We all want to attend the pagtigma, but everyone also wants to become the “parayawyaw”. Namamarayaw!
Our culture is the strongest foundation of our identity. Why is it that Pintados, or Kasadyaan, or the Sangyaw cannot compete with the prominence of Sinulog, Ati-atihan and Dinagyang? Because of its shallow cultural foundations, plus, its shallow religious substance. Again, I will not be surprised if in the future, another festival will be birthed. Another Petilla or Romualdez festival of festivals. ###
(Published in Gahum Weekly)
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