October 11, 2010
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Fiesta!
Culture
Today, my family is very busy preparing for the annual fiesta celebration of our town. We don't actually celebrate it, being non-Catholics, but as a matter of tradition, we always prepare something for a gathering of family and friends. Not on the fiesta day itself though but the day before that, which we refer to as the bespiras.
Our town of Valencia has for its patron saint the Our Lady of the Abandoned or the Nuestra De Los Desamparados, a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the patron of the rejected, the orphaned, convicts, and the less fortunate. Those that are marginalized in society, those that society has tagged as trash. We always see them everywhere, and almost always they are those that are being bullied.
The Our Lady of the Abandoned is the patron saint of Valencia, Spain, home of the town's first parish priest, Fr. Matias Villamayor.
This is also the reason why the town was named Valencia. In 1856, this secluded mountain town was renamed Nueva Valencia from Ermita (meaning secluded place) in honor of Fr. Villamayor, who was well-loved by the townspeople.
In 1920, however, it was renamed Luzuriaga as a thank you gift to the province's representative to the Philippine Congress, Don Carlos Luzuriaga who promised to help improve the town. However, Don Luzuriaga did not fulfill his promise and so in 1941, the name reverted to Nueva Valencia.
In 1948, "Nueva" was eventually dropped, as the town, headed by its then mayor, Rodolfo V. Gonzalez Sr., officially adopted Valencia as the town's name. Today's mayor, Ricky Gonzalez, is the son of the said mayor.
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Filipino fiestas is really the same all throughout. With merriment all throughout the week highlighted by basketball tournaments, either invitational or inter-village; beauty pageants including Ms. Gay, which is really a lot of fun as you listen to beautiful transvestites give a piece of their mind on relevant issues; tabo sa banay or the farmer's market; talent contests, which is more or less a local spin-off of the famous American Idol series or America's Got Talent or it could be a spin-off of the latest popular gameshow; and yes, the masses, which most faithfuls would go to very early in the morning.
The highlight of the festivity though is the feasts prepared by the townspeople in their respective houses. Before, people could go to every house to just eat and get wasted, even if they don't know the owners of the house. Everyone was welcome.
Today, things have become more private, with only friends and family invited to join in the feast. Development has increased the number of poor people, thus increasing the number of thieves and criminals, decreasing the level of the host's trust on visitors that they don't know. Its sad actually, but in some isolated places in the country this practice is still being observed.
For now, let us leave that be. But if you are a foreigner, well, the level of mistrust is not as high as that of locals who are suspicious looking and not dressed appropriately, so foreigners are really very welcome to join in and dine.
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Would you welcome a complete stranger to join you in your dinner table?
Photo by Rodel Enriquez and grabbed from flickriver.com. Ms. Gay video courtesy of JohndangChaka channel on YouTube.
Comments (19)
what's the farmer's market? is it like they block off a road or something and people come? there was something like that in malaysia it was AWESOME. i went to tesco with my cousin after and oh my gosh the difference in quality of food is like night and day.
@versatil - they put it in the public grounds where farmers would bring their produce down to be sold at a bargain... so that's fresh, organic vegetables at bargain prices... then there are also people from the city who'd be displaying bargain clothes and other items, which the farmers would buy
its one fun market 
yeah! same in malaysia when i was there (visited for less than a week). they had some food stands too. amaaazing food man. just amazing. i really miss it.
how frequent are they?
This was interesting. When I think of fiestas, I always think of that scene in Assassins with Julieanne Moore. She's walking through the cemetary because they are honoring the dead. It's really cool!
@versatil - :D actually they have it once a week, but once a year they have a grand market day
that's during the fiesta 
@hesacontradiction - there are places whose patron saint is that which pertains to the dead, so they'd do that... hehehe each fiesta has its own character... here in the Philippines, everyday someplace there is a fiesta, as every village, town, city has their own patron saint...
@tribong_upos -
yeah they have it once a week in certain spots, or once every other week. like in a specific location in each district. it's distributed so u end up traveling, too, if u need to shop. it's so cool.
you should take pictures of the market!
the grand market sounds like really something... i bet everyone is excited, the vendors/farmers especially!
@tribong_upos - I've noticed that! One of my catholic friends who was helping me through a rough time, always had a day of saints. The creepiest was last year when I wrote him to thank him for all the beautiful cathedrals, inspired by his religion (I'm an architectural nut), he said that it was our lady of guadalupe day (which is a really long story in there, but it was coincidental).
happy fiesta. also, lol at ms. gay =D man, those guys are characters!
@versatil -
too bad i wasn't able to take pictures of it... but the whole island is celebrating another fiesta in the capital... though Im not really much into the merrymaking stuff
hope i could take pictures of it too 
@hesacontradiction - nothing is a coincidence... you should look for the reason behind it
@ThePrince - i know, they're the funniest... and everyone watches it for the laughs
really erases your worries even for just a while 
@tribong_upos - Did I tell you about this new procedure for alternative to back surgery?
@hesacontradiction - yep, but that's the one in Texas, right?
@tribong_upos - yeah. it's amazing feeling hope. i haven't felt it in so long....
@hesacontradiction - that is good news!
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