Sayawan sa Sapao-an Festival
Venir SJ. Victorio Jr.
The Sapao-an Festival is celebrated yearly in the small town of Cardona, Rizal every October 6. Part of the festivities is the grand street dance parade to which several organizations including the Church, government, civil, NGO, schools and local companies are in participation. I remember during my younger years that I partook in the celebration of the festival. Since I was studying in a Catholic school, it is a must and a required activity to be with. I first joined the street dance during my 1st year in high school in the year 2001. To my memory, it is the first grand street dance parade of the town in celebration of the Sapao-an festival. Since then, I have joined every year until I graduated. There was also a time wherein I dance twice. One for my school and the other was for my Church organization. It started as a required event for me to participate, but it gave me various experiences that I will be forever grateful and honored. First, it gave me a sense of history that it made me understand and grapple the story of my town and the people. It helped me examined how the past shaped and continuously shaping our present and future. It also opened my mind to see how deep is the connection of the society and of the Church in our town since this festival is in veneration of our local patron. The dance being offered to the Virgin Mary are the different folk dances of the Philippines. It showed people how rich our culture is having these several local dance steps and routines. It also educates people about the different folk dance that our country has.
Second, these experiences gave me a sense of pride and honor. It has become a yearly thing to look forward to in my town to be one of the performers and it will give you a 15-minutes of fame. Wearing dashing costumes, makeups, sparkly accessories and props in different vibrant colors, shapes and sizes also added some extra spice and excitement to both the dancers and the people watching. Lastly, this festival gave me a sense of belongingness. It put it in the map of the Philippines and in the books that we, a small town, has something like this to be proud of and to be shared off to other people that we also have a rich culture and stories to tell. It is also one way of showing the bayanihan spirit between locals, by supporting each other in the enthusiasm of the event and with the feeling of being accepted and gaining life satisfaction and happiness because of this festival.The memories and scenes during my days in the street dance parade are still vivid. The laughter, applause, cheering, and of course, untoward comments because of some poor dance skills and missteps that we got from the crowd. These are the things that I will remember to treasure forever and be proud as a citizen of this small town. That I, once, have shared and contributed to the continuous growth and preservation of our town’s history.
Title: Sayawan sa Sapao-an Festival Creator: Venir SJ. Vistorio, Jr. What: Sapao-an Festival When: 6th of October Where: Cardona, Rizal
