Day of Festivals to Showcase Leyte's Rich History, Culture

Festivals that will be celebrated here this June do not only offer fanfare and excitement but it will also educate spectators of the rich history and culture of Leyte and entire Eastern Visayas.

Tourism regional director Karina Rosa S. Tiopez said that their office has been offering support in terms of promotion to these festivals namely the Pintados Festival organized by the Pintados Foundation; Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals and the Sangyaw Festival of Lights of Tacloban City.

Pintados Festival she said showcases the early settler of Eastern Visayas, who were painted or tattooed people. Their tattoo speaks of the early settlers’ bravery, especially for men and serves as ornamental for women.

Participants to the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals on the other hand don different identities looks and story lines. Either they depict the history, way of life, folklore of one town, she said.

These two are more on street dancing with traditional tribal performances.

On the other hand, the Sangyaw Festival of Lights, the newest of the three, is more of a fanfare or similar to Mardi Gras, she added.

Tiopez said that this is the time of the year when booking for flights bound to Tacloban, the venue of the event, is difficult and even to look for room accommodations.

She also added that there is a need for planning to sustain the surge of visitors so that structures established to respond the lack of facilities during the festival season will be filled the whole year and not just for a specific period of time.

This year, organizers of these festivals decided to come up with a daylong celebration in June 29, starting with a parade of festivals of the Pintados and Kasadyaan in the morning and will cap with the Sangyaw in the evening.

The celebration dubbed as ‘Day of Festivals’ also served as vehicle for the city government of Tacloban and the provincial government of Leyte to unite amid squabbling in the past.

The city government today announced that 15 barangays will be joining the Sangyaw Festival in the evening.

Moreover, nine towns have already confirmed participation to the Kasadyaan while Pintados has also sent out invitations to target participants.(PNA/JBP/PGL/egr)