Colorful Festivals in Romblon Part 2

FESTIVALS IN ROMBLON

In the Philippines a fiesta is usually celebrated in barrios or barangays. It is the official holiday of the LGU, the barangay. Filipinos love fiestas. It is a time for joy and celebration. A fiesta is of Spanish origin and is usually commemorated in association with a christian patron saint. Most barangays whose population have been clustered by Muslims(Moros) and their population is more than that of the Christians, the celebration of the fiesta have been cancelled and replaced with the Hari Raya or Eid al-Fitr.

The cities or municipalities usually have yearly festivals where all the barangays participate. The cities or municipalities hold contests for the best floats in parades. Read More: https://www.zamboanga.com/z/index.php?title=Romblon_Province,_Philippines

Sanrokan Festival

Photo from: http://www.wowromblon.com/features/festivals/be-part-of-the-amazing-sanrokan-festival/

Sanrokan is the age-old tradition of sharing food, particularly viand, to one’s neighbor practice by Bantoanons. In recent years, the word sanrokan has been romanticized to mean sharing, in general. This is then a festival of sharing.

The festival is a two-day celebration – it starts during Black Saturday and ends on Easter Sunday.

The festival started in 2003 as an initiative of the Municipal Government and the Executive Committee of the Banton 2003 Project.

The three major activities of the Sanrokan are the Sanrokan sa Barangay, the Hanrumanan (Street Dancing and Cultural Presentation), and the Sanrokan Night. Depending on the sponsoring groups and organizations, other activities are also held.
Read More: http://www.yagting.com/bantonvol01/events_sanrokan.asp

Kanidugan Festival

Photo from: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/105258719

Kanidugan Festival (Coconut Festival) is an annual festival celebrated in every month of April, foundation day of Odiongan and to honor Saint Vincent Ferrer (the patron saint of Odiongan, Romblon.)

The Municipality of Odiongan, celebrates this special day in the whole week, started by a Biniray (fluvial parade) in Brgy. Tabin-Dagat on the first day; pasagudar (dancing and party all night) on the second day; the civic affairs celebrates Miss Agency on the third day; Miss Odiongan Coronation Night is holding every fourth day of the week; then followed by Kanidugan Festival street dancing competition on the fifth day and on the sixth day is the entertaining boxing game including the local’s famous “GayBoxing Event,” and on the last day of the week will be the most anticipated “Miss Odiongan Rose” or the Miss Gay Pageant which makes the town plaza super crowded. Read More: http://travellingcup.blogspot.com/2015/03/kanidugan-festival.html

Mimaropa Festival

Photo from: http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2015/11/oriental-mindoro-declares-first-ever.html

It started with a simple vision of the five governors of the MIMAROPA provinces to gather in an event where they would be able to showcase and share their products and services to fellow MIMAROPANs. What was supposed to be a simple vision is now the next big thing in the Philippines.

The first MIMAROPA Festival was held in Calapan City on November 9-15. The Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro hosted the event. It coincided with the celebration of the 65th founding anniversary of both Occidental and Oriental Mindoro. Representatives and guests from Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan, Calapan City and Puerto Princesa City participated in the celebration’s activities. The festival highlighted the region’s best products through agri-trade and tourism fair, dance parade competition and search for MIMAROPA festival queen.

As one of the agreements during the RDC meeting, the MIMAROPA festival will become an annual event to be hosted by the provinces on a rotation basis. It will be one of the tourism strategies to promote and market the region to attract tourist and investors. With this activity, the future is bright for the region to achieve its vision as “The Destination of Choice”. Read More: http://mimaropa.neda.gov.ph/mimaropa-festival-the-next-big-thing-in-the-philippines/