Mountain Festivals, and How to Survive Them | Basta Pinas | TravelBook

It's hard to be a lover in Baguio in February. You save enough for a bouquet of roses, only to learn that the farmers are readying them for an event two weeks later, and whatever was left was already brought to Manila. Other flowers like chrysanthemums, anthuriums, daisies, and orchids are likewise elusive. You buy chocolates and learn that some of them were destined for the chocolate fondue and fountain of some of the hotels' booths during Session in Bloom, set on the first week of March. You buy a bottle of tapuey (rice wine) and learn that all are reserved for the Ipitik Festival. If you are lucky still, you learn that all the respectable hotels have been fully booked since January.

Baguio residents usually pass February 14 with a simple date in a café and reserve their wallets and energy for the end of the month and the weeks that follow.

That is when the Panagbenga (Panahg-buh-ngah) Festival comes in. In 1995 when it was started, it was meant to fill in the lull between December (weddings and Christmas vacation) and Holy Week, the two crests of the tourist season for Baguio.

Now Panagbenga is much larger than both events. Most LGUs, school conventions and private "stress reduction" seminars are now timed to coincide with this event. It has become a must-go for politicians (during campaigns) and showbiz people with upcoming movies or commercials.

I remember in 1997, when the flower festival officially got named Panagbenga (Kankanaey for "season of blossoming"), that I was just walking around when the parade started and so I sat on the pavement to watch it pass by. In 1999, I was stuck at the Philippine Military Academy and had to walk four kilometers to reach the parade. By 2001, lowlanders (that's what we call you, local tourists) would be at the sidewalks of Session Road five hours before the parade. Last Panagbenga, entire families were actually camping on the streets or on the overpasses.

So what's the fuss all about? Panagbenga is one of the first secular festivals so don't expect dancing Sto. Ninos or Santo Entierros among the floats. Panagbenga celebrates flowers. The Alpha Flower is the marapait, the native sunflower, that suddenly blooms on the rocky mountainsides of the city mainly to tell the people, "Hey! Bring out your sweaters! The cold is here!" The marapait blooms only when the temperature reaches 15 degrees Centigrade, which is lower than your aircon setting. And then, boom! The mountains turn golden yellow. There are usually still marapaits in February.

But there are other flowers as well. What was once a two-day industry (All Saint's Day and Valentines) has become, well, a week for the flower industry. The flower gardeners in La Trinidad and Tublay already have their cut flowers reserved for the floats, which use thousands of flowers. There were 21 floats this year--some are a tableaux of fantasy gardens and terraces with unicorns and dragons, huge floral bunnies (this being the Year of the Rabbit), and even a mini-Baguio in flowers or renditions of local products done in flowers.

Even the boats at the Burnham Lagoon are embellished with flowers during the Fluvial Parade. At night, the stage at the center of the lagoon becomes a concert venue of Broadway songs and dances.

The Panagbenga also highlights the Cordillera culture. The routine for the dances is patterned after the Bendian, a circle dance by the Ibaloi, the first people of the area, which they perform after a successful headhunt. Think about it: flowers and beheading. Hmmm.

The Panagbenga hymn, composed by my neighbor Mac Fronda, complements the Bendian as well as the gongs and native drums that traditionally go with it. G-strings and the native skirts also go well with the floral costumes of the children dancers. One time, I was walking at the front of the parade when a woman shrieked. I thought it was another artista on a float. It turned out to be the local police in their uniform tops with G-strings.

The city council also declared February 23 as Ibaloi Day and the Ibalois hold their canao and merrymaking at that day.

The Ipitik Festival held at the Rose Garden is a celebration of tapuey. Ipitik is what you say to whoever opens a bottle or jar of tapuey so they can offer a bit to the spirits and to Kabunian, the supreme god of the Cordillerans. During the Ipitik, the native priests  offer prayers to Kabunian and start the ritual slaughter of pigs to bless the festival. Then 108 boys in G-strings play the gongs, a salute by organizer Ferdie Balanag to the Buddhist number of infinity. Then 2,500 people are treated to pinikpikan, a native Igorot chicken stew.

One day is also given to the pony boys of Wright Park and the Benguet cowboys all over the country. There are rodeos, pig wrestling, horse and pony races, and other things cowboys can think of as fun at the Baguio Athletic Bowl during the Pony Boy Day.

During February, the barangays are also required to come out with pocket gardens and to clean the streets. The cleanest and greenest barangays are awarded while the dirtiest and barest are also publicly shamed.

After the weekend parades, Session Road is closed for traffic for a week and becomes a street of outdoor cafes, mini-gardens and stores of crafts and foods from other regions in the country. Session Road in Bloom also means concerts and performances every night on both ends of Session Road. There are a lot of events made to coincide with the Panagbenga like Universal Reality Combat Championship, airsoft competition, golf tournament, Mr. and Ms. Panagbenga, Little Ms. Panagbenga, cheerleading and many others.

Two worthy innovations this year made Panagbenga more diverse and artistic. One is the Baguio Music Festival at the Centennial Park which showcased the Baguio talent in all types of music. Another is the Axis International Festival by Kawayan de Guia and DJ Mark Zero, which is their version of the Burning Man Festival or the Los Angeles Fringe Festival.

Held in the Rose Garden with a huge tent sewn from ukay-ukay discards, the festival included performances and installations from local and foreign artists. Installation arts of discarded windows, huge chalk murals, ecological art and hybrid music emanated from the tent. But there were other venues like Katipunan St. and Camp John Hay. Kawayan decided to make the Axis a biennial thing so the next "accident" will be in 2013, that is, if the world doesn't end in 2012.

If you missed the Panagbenga, you have other chances for the other Cordillera festivals.

Benguet's Adivay Festival is held in November at the Benguet State University. There is more to Benguet that salad bowls and flower gardens, as you would see here. Mountain Province holds its Adivay Festival in the first week of April while Ifugao has its Gotad in July usually to coincide with their planting season at the terraces. Abra holds its Abrenian Festival in the first week of March. Try their miki, native sugar or basi (local wine) at that time.

Now if you are the hapless lover in Baguio, try to celebrate February 14 either at Kalinga or Apayao. That was the time when the two provinces "separated." You can either go to the Ullalim Festival in Kalinga or Suyam Festival in Apayao. Either way, it will be a lot of fun and will involve a lot of drinking and feasting.

1 2