Hundreds of dancers of Tanauan’s Pasaka Festival, clad in colorful costumes, awed thousands of crowd at the Leyte Sport Development Center in this city late Wednesday afternoon for the annual cultural presentation.
“Pasaka,” a local term for progress, is a “cultural expression and
manifestation of the town’s beliefs and ideals as a people.”
There’s a twist this year, as “Pasaka” performers told their
stories of post-disaster recovery through their dance.
“We just showed to the crowd, through ritual dance, what really
happened during and after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ and how each one of us worked
to recover and make each new day a better day in Tanauan,” said Mayor Pelagio
Tecson.
The group’s use of props such as a makeshift helicopter
distributing relief goods wowed the spectators, who came to see the
presentation of five contingents from Leyte and Eastern Samar provinces.
This was the first comeback of Tribu Pasaka to the
Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival since the monster typhoon struck in 2013 and killed
thousands of residents and shattered lives in the coastal town of Tanauan.
The contingent defeated the festival’s defending champion, the
Buraburon Festival of Burauen, Leyte. Buraburon Fest is also the grand champion
in this year’s Aliwan Fiesta held in Pasay City.
Buraburon placed second while Sanggutan Festival of Barugo, Leyte
landed third place.
Heraite Festival of Leyte, Leyte and Solosogi Festival of
Balangiga, Eastern Samar also joined the competition.
For the Pintados category, Tanauan’s Tribu Mangirisda also won
third year in a row, besting five other groups.
Now on its 23rd year, the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals
brings together the diverse, vibrant and colorful festivals from the different
towns in the province of Leyte and other participating festivals from its
sister islands of Samar and Biliran, as well as other provinces in the Visayas.
It is one of the most awaited events of Tacloban City’s fiesta
celebrations this month in honor of its patron, the Señor Sto. Niño de
Tacloban.
Leyte’s festivals have brought fame and fortune to various
champions, among them the Buyogan Festival of Abuyog, Burauen’s Buraburon,
Tanauan’s Pasaka Festival and Lingganay Festival of Alangalang, having bested
other festivals in the country and emerged as champions in such prominent
festivals as Sinulog of Cebu and the annual national Aliwan Fiesta - Battle of
Festival champions in Manila.
On the other hand, the Pintados Festival was first celebrated on
June 29, 1987 when a group of businessmen belonging to the Pintados Foundation,
Inc. came up with this event to showcase Leyte and Samar’s early tattooed
inhabitants called Pintados, and their rich cultural heritage and indigenous
music and dance.
In 1998, the Pintados and the Leyte Kasadyaan were merged into one
big attraction called the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals. (SQM/PNA)
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