Fiesta Season

Filipinos are wired to party.  Somewhere encoded in the double helixes of our archipelagic DNA is a gene or two that makes us, young and old, want to rock it 'til the break o' dawn.  This genetic predisposition blossoms into full behavioral fruition in May and June, when every town and every barangay throws a big ass party.  This phenomenon is country wide- amazing considering the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Philippines.  At fiesta time, the squat Igorots in the northern mountains raise the roof, Visayans skip to the beat across their scattered islands, and southern muslims in Mindanao throw down a party like a prayer rug.  Town fiestas are a big deal.  Preparation takes weeks and folks will boat or bus back to their hometowns for the festivities. 

I arrive in Baybay on a weekend of five barangay fiestas - all within a couple of motorcycle puts of each other.  Festivities last about three days and contain most of the following: religious ceremonies, basketball, boxing and cockfight tournaments, parades and beauty pageants.

- Miss Northwestern Magsaysay Road, Please tell me, what is your edge over the other contestants?
- My edge is 22 years old, thank you very much!

The whole thing concludes with a disco where bright lights and booming beats from the 80s inspire 5 year olds and 75 year olds to set their flip-flops afire until the wee hours.

If the fiesta is your home neighborhood, you cook heaping platters of food because your friends will be stopping by throughout the day.  Sarah and I hop from house to house visiting people.  "Aiyoooooh!" we call out as we open doors and walk in like family.  Chicken, fish, stews, and my favorite, Lechon ar piled on our plates at each stop bringing me to artery-clogged ecstacy.

Fortunately, there is exercise in the dancing.  As the American guest, I seem to bring additional cache and novelty to the fun.  Unless I'm eating, I can never sit down.  A ten year old, a grandma, teenage boys will pull me onto the dance floor to shake my groove thang.  At one fiesta for a small neighborhood (watch video)- literally three blocks across - a 65 year old woman, the mother of Sarah's friend, claims me as her beau for the evening.  And she can go all night long!  She's drunk, loud and shakes her ample figure in pure poetry with an innovative movement vocabulary.  She's my hero.

This is SinangCora - one of the dishes I eat during Fiesta time.  It's the invention of Manang Cora, a friend of Sarah.  This soup contains chicken, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pickles, cheese and other ingredients.  Sounds nasty, huh?  It's DELICIOUS!  Unfortunately Manang Cora will not share the recipe.