Biñan City’s Puto Latik Festival: A celebration of culture, arts & heritage conservation
Revelry and reverence take part in any festival in the Philippines. At the recent 15th Puto Latik Festival in BiñanCity, gaiety and devotion merged on the streets as the nine-day celebration highlighted the city’s commitment to the advancement of culture, arts, heritage preservation and conservation towards sustainable tourism.
“The Puto Latik Festival is a celebration of all that is iconic in the eyes of every Biñanense. The strengthening of all that is Biñan, and the promotion of its tourism and culture is the main objective of the festival,” said Dr. BJ Borja, city tourism and cultural affairs officer.
Mention Biñan and quickly puto (rice cake) comes to mind. Puto Biñan is the most prominent and most iconic of the city’s products.
The latik part of the festival is courtesy of Biñan’s native dance: the Maglalatik, where male performers dance with half coconut shells in their hands and shirts.
The highlight of the recent festival, which started in 2010,was the Puto Biñan 2.0, a cook-off challenge, where I served as a judge. The cooking challenge required residents of all the 24 barangays of Biñan to concoct recipes with the famous Nila’s puto as the base ingredient.
Innovative cooks and hobbyists created sweet and savory concoctions — what with laing-topped Puto Biñan or the proverbial rice cake rolled to become sushi with wasabi! Not only that, there were also Puto Hardinera, Puto Cheesy Corned Beef Caldereta, Puto with Tahong and Tokwa, Puto Chicken Asado, Apple Puto Pie among others.
At the end of the day, adjudged champion of the Puto Biñan2.0 Cook-Off Challenge was the contingent from Barangay Bungahan with the mouthwatering Special Baked Puto Buko Pie. Deserving, too, of the second and third spots were Brgy. Malaban (Ube Puto Sobrang Latik Na) and Brgy. San Jose (Carrot Puto Cake), respectively.
Nila’s Puto’s Marvin Endriga, also a judge at the cook fest, was delighted to savor all the Puto Biñan innovations. Nila’s Puto, named after its founder Petronila Samaniego, is arguably the best rice cake in Biñan. It has been in the market since the ‘50s.
“This Puto Biñan-making competition is held to tap the creativity and imagination of the Biñanenses and to encourage further innovations of the iconic rice cake,” said BJ.
Aside from the rice cake, other Biñan products that also took center stage at the festival included the pinipig, the sorbetes, the Biñan sapatos and tsinelas.
The tradition continues
“The worst threat to traditions is when they cease to play a role in the lives of the people. They will continue to live only as long as there are efforts to preserve them. Biñan prides itself for treasuring its inherited traditions despite the estrangement of the modern generation from their roots as the nation tries to keep up with the rest of the world. For nine long days, Biñan celebrates its lively Puto Latik Festival, to laud and to foster its Puto Biñan, and its maglalatik folk war dance, which is offered to San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of farmers and of Biñan,” said BJ.
He added: “The festival was first celebrated every first week of February. However, it is more apt to celebrate the festival that lionizes Biñan’s link to agriculture since it was cultivated for such when it was first being colonized by Spain — back when it was still called the Hacienda de San Isidro Labrador de Biñan. Hence, the festival was moved to the feast day of the city’s patron saint San Isidro Labrador, which is on May 15, and is now celebrated yearly on that day.”
The recently concluded festival began with a religious ceremony for guidance for the success of the event. Merrymaking called Karakol ng Reyna ng Biñan jumpstarted the festivities. The image of the Nuestra Señorade la Paz y Buen Viaje was carried by male devotees on their shoulders from the chapel in Barangay Dela Paz to the San Isidro Labrador Catholic Church, the mother church of Biñan, in Barangay Poblacion. It is believed that those who carry the image would be blessed.
An award-winning festival
Apart from the grand parade, the festival highlights included a street dance competition and a land float parade. Plus, of course, the usual beauty tilt for all genders.
BJ said, “The occasion takes advantage of the festive gathering to explore other creative and sportsmanship pursuits, to advance gender equality and empowerment, to showcase homegrown talents, to steward animal and environmental welfare, to destigmatize persons with disability, to give back to mothers, to honor those who uplift the quality of living, to help increase employment, to conduct medical missions, and to educate about cultural heritage.”
The festivity ended with two other grand traditions — the Pistang Intsik and the Santacruzan.
“With the strong roots of Chinese merchants in Biñan, the Pistang Instik celebrates the heritage of its Chinese communities who have played a significant part in creating the identity both of the town and of its people. Meanwhile, the Santacruzan is a religious parade observed nationwide that honors the finding of the True Cross by Queen Helena,” added BJ.
BJ noted that in 2018, 2019 and 2022, the Puto Latik Festival won for Biñan the Department of Tourism-ATOP Pearl Awards as one of the Best Tourism Events in the Philippines.
“The Puto Latik Festival seeks to solidify the 24 barangays of Biñan, actively involving their respective constituents. With this involvement comes the unique taste of the festival: diverse yet unified,” BJ concluded.
For your new beginnings, e-mail me at [email protected]. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed weekend.
- Latest
