ANIHAN FESTIVAL – gratefulness for a bountiful harvest

ANIHAN FESTIVAL

The Festival

Every 27th of September each year means the week-long celebration of Anihan Festival in Iloilo City as an expression of gratefulness for a bountiful harvest and being triumphant against hardships and trials during the critical times. It is the start of the season for ample harvest of agricultural crops.

The Anihan Festival, coinciding with the feast of Iloilo patron saint, Saint Jerome, is a celebration for Dueñas people and Dueñas itself, being a rich agricultural area where agriculture is the main source of livelihood. Infact, about 86% of the total land area of Dueñas is devoted to agriculture. This puts Dueñas on the top ten list of municipalities that largely produce agricultural crops,particularly rice.

The Tribe Competition is Anihan Festival’s main feature, characterized with street dancing and interpretative dance that mirrors the way of living of the people of Dueñas such as practice, customs, and traditions, before and during the harvest season.

Adding color to the festivity are the parade of creatively designed floats, with muses of competing tribes, and the Search for Miss Amihan and the night of coronation. In lined activities include LGU Day, Benefit Dance, concelebrated mass, Coronation Night of the Fiesta Queen agro-industrial fair, food festival, garden show, showcasing an array of ornamental plants, native delicacies, and flourishing agriculture in the municipality, and the Laro ng Lahi, featuring a fun run during the LGU Day.

During the fair is an exciting event called the pinaka-, (adjective in superlative form) contest of agricultural produce such as corn, banana, coconut, native chicken, and many others. There is even an event for the most creatively decorated goat called Search for Pinakamatahum.

The celebration of Anihan also meant an opportunity for the locals to play indegenous games inherited by early generations, developing camaraderie and sportsmanship between the different sectors of the community.

The Scoop

Municipality of Dueñas

A fourth-class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Dueñas has a population of 30,882 recorded in cencus year 2000, in 5,850 households. The municipality of Dueñas is subdivided into 47 barangays namely Agutayan, Angare, Anjawan, Baac, Bagongbong, Balangigan, Balingasag, Banugan, Batuan, Batuan, Bita, Buenavista, Bugtongan, Cabudian, Calaca-an, Calang, Calawinan, Capaycapay, Capuling, Catig, Dila-an, Fundacion, Inadlawan, Jagdong, Jaguimit, Lacadon, Luag, Malugsod, Maribuyong, Minanga, Monpon, Navalas, Pader, Pandan, Ponong Grande, Ponong Pequeño, Purog, Romblon, San Isidro, Santo Niño, Sawe, Taminla, Tinocuan, Tipolo, Poblacion A, B, C, and D.

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