The first Fiesta of every year already occurred last month in Brgy. San Vicente, of course, with the Fiesta of San Vicente Ferrer last April 5. That would make this post a bit outdated. Nevertheless, I decided to proceed with this post since 5 out of the 13 barangays of Anahawan celebrate their fiestas during this month, making May as the month with the most number of fiestas celebrated throughout the town.
With the festive activities during fiestas, each barangay instantly becomes an attraction not only to Anahawnons but also to people from neighboring towns. Many Anahawnons who have been away for some time usually schedule their vacations during the fiesta of their dear barangays. See related post here.
Basketball and parlor games are among the popular activities. Of course, sabong (cockfighting) has always been among the top activities in many barangays. In the olden days, amateur singing contest is held for several nights before the fiesta katud-anan. There is no need to mention that no fiesta is complete without the bayle (disco) on the night of bisperas.
During fiestas, devotees from other barangay and nearby towns would visit to honor the Patron Saint or join in commemorating an event on that Holy Day. Some would simply appear to socialize with their friends or visit their relatives. Traditionally, unknown visitors would simply appear in the host's doorstep or simply crash back door into the kitchen or dining table. These kind of visitors, though oftentimes could be annoying to the hosts, used to be acceptable in the belief that they could be invited by the Patron Saint.
Aside from kitchen crashers, which is becoming less common nowadays, some just seem to have perfect attendance in every fiesta. They must be very religious people or simply have friends or relatives in every barangay. Many, however, are just after the food, thus, the pun about CPA's, or Cada Piyesta Adto.
I attempted to put together the fiesta schedules in Anahawan but could not have much time to research. Below is what I have gathered so far. I have not been able to verify the accuracy of these information. In fact, I left out missing information in here. If you can add info or see something inaccurate, kindly leave a comment below and I will gladly make the updates.
Date | Barangay | Patron Saint / Religious Event |
April 5 | San Vicente | San Vicente |
April 24 (?) | Mainit | San Isidro |
May 3 | Lo-ok | Sta. Cruz |
May 11 | Calinta-an | Sta. Cruz |
May 15 | Cogon | San Isidro |
May 22 | Mahalo | Sta. Cruz |
May 30 | Lewing | Sta. Cruz |
June 13 | (Town Fiesta) | San Antonio de Padua |
Aug 15 (?) | Cagingkingan | |
Aug 24 (?) | Manigawong | Assumption |
Aug (?) | Amagusan | |
Sept 8 (?) | Capacuhan | |
Sept 8 (?) | Canlabian | |
Dec 8 | Tagup-on | Immaculate Concepcion |
Happy Fiesta to all!!!
You may also want to read this related blog post: The season to visit Anahawan.
