TBK travels to the Barotuan Fiesta

 

I saw this on Facebook and decided to go ( 6 hour drive!) for the second time ( my last visit was in 2021 when I first stayed in Barutaan at Jhoanna's house. Chester ( The Hooman) was very jealous saying that now is the Fiesta season across the Philippines, and they tend to have bigger better events in the provinces and on the Islands than in Manila!

Sadly I could not find accommodation at first so I missed the first 5 days. The new H hotel in El Nido was full, so was the new hotel at Nacpan, and Lio would not allow dogs in the rooms. Eventually Kuya Ran found me a room at the Nacpan Seaside hotel and Chester and I drove up on Saturday 14th January leaving Jhoanna in charge of the Blue House. 

On Sunday I met up with Rodel in Nacpan and Kit and we drove to Barotuan and parked outside Jhoanna's house and headed down to see the parade at 1 pm. 

The Festival is called "Ati-Atihan. This is a celebration in honor of the Infant Jesus, the town’s patron. Ati-Atihan, observed in honor of the Child Jesus. Ati-atihan means ‘making like Atis,’ that is, pretending to be like the aboriginal natives that once inhabited Aklan. This involves smearing oneself with soot to darken the skin and dressing up in tribal finery. The start of the procession is signaled by drums and whistles, and later punctuated by shouts of “Hala Bira!”"

Source: https://www.tpb.gov.ph/events/ati-atihan-festival/  ( accessed 13.01.23)

While we were staying at Nacpan we did 3 more Photoshoots for Chester's 2023 calendar :

Special thanks to Elay and Jhoanna who cold not make the Fiesta this year due to their University commitments in Puerto. However they rushed around to get all the props for the calendar and came to the Blue house to check everything fitted before we set off for the long journey North.

                                 Chester tries on his rainwear for July!

We also met up with Kuya Ran ( and delivered the first birthday and christening present for my first Innanak Cyrus). Sadly the rain meant we could not pay a visit to my second Innanak Zeus in Sibaltan ( We will be back in May , Zeus, for our first meeting with belated Christmas and birth gifts!). We also delivered a gift to Mama Jam who invited Ran and I for dinner at Tandikan cottages on 17th January, prior to the HOPE event 18 January. In between all that we managed to get in some walking and swimming at Nacpan, had lunch at Angkla and dinner at Sunmai, and surprised Rhoda, Ritchelle and Jhoann . So it was an action packed week. 

While I was away with Chester the dawg, Chester the Hooman launched the much awaited 2023 recipe book on 15th January

You can find one of our recipes by clicking the link below . Go to the Recipe Book 2023 tab at the top right and you will see the January recipes. 6 more recipes will be added on the 15 th of each month and you can download them all for free.

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/

Anyway, back to the Fiesta:

The Ati-Atihan festival is the highlight of the year in Barutaan with people coming from all over the north of Palawan to participate and watch.

I remember staying at Jhoanna’s house years ago on vacation, for a HOPE event in El Nido, and watching as her sister Elay, cousin Althea and various others spent hours on the front porch cutting, gluing and coloring their costumes.

If Mr G allows let me quote from the internet about the origins of the festival:

"The origins of Ati-Atihan date back to the 13th Century, when a group of lighter skinned Malay immigrants from Borneo chose to show their respect for the local Ati people by painting their faces black and singing and dancing in thanks for the land and food that was offered to them."

Source: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20110802-ati-atihan-asias-mardi-gras#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20Ati%2DAtihan,that%20was%20offered%20to%20them. ( accessed 17.01.23)

According to Wikipedia:

"The Ati-Atihan festival is a Philippine festival held annually in January in honor of the Santo Niño (Holy Child or Infant Jesus) in several towns of the province of Aklan, Panay Island. The biggest celebration is held during the third Sunday of January in the town of Kalibo, the province's capital. The name Ati-Atihan means "to imitate the Ati people".

The festival consists of religious processions and street-parades, showcasing themed floats, dancing groups wearing colorful costumes, marching bands, and people sporting face and body paints. The street parade is known as Sadsad, which is also what the locals call their way of dancing where the foot is momentarily dragged along the ground in tune to the beat played by the marching bands. It has inspired other Philippine Festivals such as Dinagyang of Iloilo and Sinulog of Cebu, thus, it is known as the "Mother of All Philippine Festivals."^[1]"

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ati-Atihan_festival ( accessed 17.01.23)

Hundreds of people participate in the parade getting “blacked up”  whereas others have black make up on their faces.

 

 Jhoanna’s Mum , Jing, who we saw just as we were leaving Barutaan

The costumes are amazing ( all hand made) and the rhythmic sound of the drums can be heard all over the village. The main highway and the adjoining fields and side roads are filled with tents and stalls selling street food, souvenirs and large quantities of the local beer, Red Horse, are drunk. The procession is the highlight of the weeks events and when  I met Rodel in Barotuan he told me he had been dancing at the disco and drinking until 5 am the night before.

We had arranged that I would park my car outside Jhoanna’s house at 9 am and Making would make me coffee and then I would meet Rodel and Kit there and we would go and watch the parade. Due to the rain the night before the track from Nacpan to the main road was very muddy and the rain started coming down again once we hit the main road. The streets in Barutaan were already full of people getting ready and I was given a warm welcome by Jhoanna’s other sister who I have never met. As Making was asleep she made me coffee and her daughter , Keanna played with Chester who explored the new house with all its smells, kittens, pigs and chickens.

Once we had all gathered we were able to confirm the parade would not be until 1pm and as May Ann and Keanna were going to church I took Rodel and Kit for lunch at Lio.

 

       Jhoanna’s niece (Pamakin in Tagalog) Keanna, with her mum

At Lio we planned to go to my favourite restaurant, Punta Playa. However, as we got there at 11 am and it did not open until 12 we went to Red Crab next door. On my last visit they were just refurbishing Red Crab so this was my first visit and I have to say we were not disappointed. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and to show how fresh the crabs were the waiter bought them to the table! A great way to promote your specials. They had my favourite steak on the menu but it was overpriced at 2000 pesos! I went for Calamansi juice and the boys had cocktails ( 2 for Rodel who was topping up the previous nights drinking with no effect , and one for the non-drinking Kit who later started singing and then fell asleep in the car on the way back to Barutaan.

The pouring rain at Lio which delayed us and forced us to drink cocktails until it stopped, honest!

While we ate the rain started again and as we did not have raincoats we texted the Campos family to say we would be late back. The waiter offered more drinks and Nachos ( sadly they do not serve desserts at Red Crab or we might have stayed all day).  Eventually the rain lightened up and we ran to the car and drove to Barotuan to find the parade had been cancelled. We then went to the Plaza ( a covered basketball court) where the teams were showing off their skills and costumes before the judges. The place was packed and everyone was climbing on tables and chairs to try and see above all the mobile phones filming the event.

      Some of the contestants in their costumes dance for the judges

We managed to get some video footage for the vlog but eventually it got too wet for me ( remember I lived in the Middle East for 12 years where it only rained for 5 days a year)  and decided to return to Nacpan . There I had an early dinner at Sunmai and then Chester and I went to sleep at 6 pm as we had no electricity. Later the brownout ended and we woke up as the AC and lights came on around midnight. Atter checking all our messages, and finding the next days HOPE event had been cancelled due to the rain we went back to sleep from 1 – 6 am when we were woken by more torrential rain.  At that point I decided to give up on sleep, tidy the room and feed Chester .

One of the many drummers at the Fiesta whose rhythmic beat could be heard all over town!

He then went back to sleep while I wrote this blog and hopefully one day, when the rain stops, we will get to Sunmai to upload it and edit the few clips we shot at the Fiesta into today’s Vlog. That will be a little late as its already 7 am and its still raining. You can see the Vlog of the Fiesta here:

 

I hope to return another year and that it will be third time lucky- no rain, the parade will go ahead and I will have a front row seat. Does anyone know who I need to contact to be a judge??