Bountiful Quezon

MANILA, Philippines – All over Quezon, San Isidro Labrador is celebrated on his feast day, May 15, with festivals that showcase the bounty of the province. As the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro’s feast day centers around the abundant harvest of the local farmers.

The Pahiyas Festival, with houses decorated with colorful kiping rice wafers, is definitely the most popular festival in the province, but there are also exciting and unique celebrations in other municipalities as well.

In Tayabas, there is the Mayohan, which features the Hagisan ng Suman, where the favorite sticky rice kakanin is thrown from the balconies of houses as the image of San Isidro is paraded through the streets.

The municipality of Sariaya has the Agawan Festival. Sariaya boasts of KKK – kabundukan (mountains – it is at the foot of Mt. Banahaw), kapatagan (plains) and karagatan (sea), which makes it favorable for tourism and also provides locals with very biodiverse surroundings.

Natives of Sariaya had long had a tradition of bringing choicest produce to offer to the mountain gods. Later on, under the influence of Spanish friars, the ceremony was appropriated for the feast of San Isidro. Eventually, the farmers were bringing too much produce to the church, so they started displaying it in their homes. As the procession passes by each house, revelers take their pick of the fruits and vegetables, as a way of sharing the bounty and the blessings for the coming year.

Gumaca’s Araña’t Baluarte Festival, however, may be the most exciting for them all – a marriage of the flamboyant decorations of the Pahiyas and the friendly competition of the Hagisan ng Suman and Agawan Festival.

The festival is named after the araña or native chandeliers made of fruits and vegetables which are hung on large arcs or baluarte at the entrances of each group of neighboring baranggays.

Each group tries to outdo the next, resulting in creatively decorated bamboo arcs bursting with fruits and vegetables – leis of garlic and bright red chilis, “chandeliers” of green saba (plantain) bananas, pineapples and coconuts tied together, suman (rice cakes), ginger, root crops and much more.

Gumaca’s local government has taken the festival as an opportunity to foster cooperation and bayanihan within the community. Gumaca municipal administrator Elmo Caralian says communities get together at the beginning of the month and work on their displays up until the night of May 14. “They come together to decorate their district’s baluarte in time for the big celebration.”

There are prizes for the most extravagantly decorated baluarte, but Caralian explains, “The prize is not important to them. What’s important to them is the honor of being chosen as the district with the best baluarte in Gumaca. It’s more of the honor than the financial reward.”

This year, the town had 18 baluartes, the decorations of which have become more and more elaborate throughout the years, says the municipal administrator. Caralian adds, the festival has been gaining the attention of more and more visitors as another tourist draw aside from the Pahiyas festival, thanks to tourism promotion efforts by the local government and the regional division of the Department of Tourism. In fact, two weeks prior to the festival, hotels in the area were already fully booked.

Indeed, people filled the streets of Gumaca on the day of the festival, taking selfies at each of the baluartes. The excitement grew as they lined the streets as the procession began after mass. Locals gathered under the arcs, claming their territory and getting ready to grab as much produce as they can.

The atmosphere became even more festive with the music of a marching band signalling the start of the parade.

The real action began when the image of San Isidro passed under each arc. As soon as the saint “blessed” each barangay with its presence, everyone gleefully started grabbing all of the fruits and vegetables that hung on the arcs. The araña were cut loose and more revelers grabbed at these to bring home some of the bounty of their province, as well as a little part of the blessing from the patron saint of farmers. In minutes, the baluarte was stripped bare – even the decorations were taken home.

“It’s a celebration of thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest,” says Caralian, who breathed a sigh of relief when shortly after the festivities it was reported to him that there were no casualties this year.

The farmers really prepare for the celebration and they really contribute their own local produce to decorate their district’s baluarte, Caralian adds. Soon, they will return to their fields and start to plant anew with next year’s festival in mind, when they will once more celebrate the bounty of Quezon.  - Photos by GEORGE TAPAN