Our trip to Capiz coincided with the the Sinadya sa Halaran 2012 festival, which literally means “Joy in Sharing and Thanksgiving.” Held every December, this festival is a merging of the Roxas City Fiesta “Sinadya” and the Provincial celebration of “Halaran.” It is a commemoration of the feast of the patroness of Roxas City (the Immaculate Concepcion).
The main highlight of the fiesta was the street dancing, which depicted a wide range of Pinoy folk practices. Some of the dances showed bayanihan (the spirit of communal unity), the money dance (a ritual during weddings where people pin paper bills to the newly amrried couple to wish them well), and folk games like palosebo (where participants climb up a greasy pole). But dances weren’t limited to just that. We also witnessed a whole range of interesting performances, like dancing ducks, the life cycle of agricultural products, childbirth, death by drowning, crabs and gyrating ants, to name a few. Here are a few festival highlights in photos.
For more information on Capiz festivals, visit http://capiz.gov.ph/