viva san clemente

one thing i've always loved about my hometown is its rich culture and tradition. no doubt about it because these culture and traditions made our hometown an artists town. indeed we are the art capital of the philippines.

today is the feast day of our patron saint, pope clement I. every year, this is my most awaited event in my home town. well... i guess everybody in our town does... since i was little girl, i anticipate the feast day itself... aside from the food that will be served, i look forward to the "pagoda" itself... "pagoda" is an annual fluvial procession... dinadala ng mga deboto ang mga imahen ng santo papunta sa dagat (laguna de bay) para i-prusisyon... isinasakay sila kasama ng mga deboto sa apat na malalaking bangka na pinagdugtung-dugtong para makagawa ng isang malaking pagoda... although, i never had the chance to ride and join that boat because i dont know how to swim... i've always enjoyed how the town's people celebrate the occasion... and this is so evident on the annual parade...

makikita mo na sobrang saya ng mga tao... sagana ang tubig... they don't care if they are going to pay more this month for their water bills... basta kailangan makapambasa sila... hehehe... the men dress up like women... they even had their dress tailor made just for the occasion... pinaghahandaan talaga... you will get surprised on how creative people can get... makikita mo na lang na merong mga taong putik... someone who just came home from a halloween party... kanina nga merong naka-tuxedo... james bond daw... hehehe... we also have parehadoras... they are little girls dressed up in a really colorful attire... they march throughout the town with their miniature sagwans (boat paddle) and their bakyas (wooden slippers)... they were marching in a certain beat and they should be all in unison... annually, the organizers come up with a unique design... which makes you look forward to it every year... of course the giant paper maches that we call higantes were always present... every year we get to have a new one and over time the traditional higantes have already evolved to something far from the old higantes that we had... but of course the old concept is still there... i really can't blame the creativity of those people who have always been involved in this festival... its just so inspiring... :)

when i was really young, i remember there were few artistas who visit our town just to witness this event... though, our town has always been known for our higantes festival, now, we are included in the wow philippines destinations... in the past years too, we have been visited by a lot of media during this time of the year... they usually cover the entire festivity on this date of the month... pero ang suki talaga ng angono ay ang gma7... we were in unang hirit this morning... drew arellano and regine tolentino was outside our church covering the event... i think they never failed to come here to cover the event... a few years back... kara david was here... today, sandra aguinaldo was here who is a proud native of angono too... di rin sya nakaligtas sa mga nambubuhos ng tubig... hehehe... ganon talaga dito pag piyesta... pag tuyo ka, ikaw ang babasain... hehehe... kaya ingat sa mga cellphone at mga cameras... hehehe... di pa yan... papahiran ka pa ng putik... hehehe... a lot of tourists enjoy the festival too... so yearly, you'll find foreigners during the parade... kakaiba kse e... sabi nga wala sa states nyan... hehehe...

i almost forgot, i find this funny... the gays in our town imitated the 26k of deal or no deal... they were all dressed in minis... of course together with their brief cases... they even have a gay dressed up like the banker... and this really fat gay was dressed up in an orange gown who i think is portraying kris aquino... too bad my camera's battery died down... i wasn't able to take their picture... sayang...

its been a tiring day kse maaga pa lang nag-umpisa na ung prusisyon... yet, i had fun with what i witnessed today... hopefully, next year i'll have my canon 400d na... just in time for this event... wish harder russ!(again)... hahaha...

all pictures are personally taken by the author.