“A PEOPLE without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
So can a tree live without roots? So a people, with utter disregard of its culture, can only exist but not live. That is to take it from that quote of Marcus Garvey, the national hero of Jamaica who was at one time a journalist.
It gives us thus exhilarating high to witness the ever-increasing cultural revival programs in our province – from Sasmuan’s Kuraldal to Minalin”s Aguman Sandok, from Sta. Rita’s Duman to Candaba’s Ibon-Ebun. Then too are the3 City of San Fernando’s triple-treat of Maleldo, Tugak and Giant Lantern festivals.
Relatively still a toddler compared to the well-established events, Mabalacat’s Caragan Festival, in only its third year already promises to better its elders, in sheer spectacle, impact and attendance.
An eponymous memorial to the Aeta chieftain that ruled the village that once teemed with the mighty balacat hardwood, the festival was conceived to “immortalize the lifestyles of Mabalacat’s indigenous tribes through dance and other cultural presentations.”
So noted festival co-chair June Magbalot, stressing “the centrality of dance and songs in the life of the Aetas, in celebration of their struggles and triumphs, even in their mourning.”
For the day, the unats will do an emulation of their kulut brethren: from the color of their skin to their native attire, complete with exotic headdresses, their basic gears of bows and arrows, and of course their songs and dances.
This year’s edition, to be held on February 26, will start with a parade of the “tribes” and their floats through MacArthur Highway from Barangay Mabiga to Xevera-Mabalacat in Barangay Tabun. That stretch of the national highway will be closed to traffic from 2-6 p.m. Detours and alternate routes have already been designated so as not to inconvenience the motorists.
There are 44 floats from the tribes and one each from the local government unit, Mabalacat Water District office and Xevera-developer Globe-Asiatique participating this year.
Judges in the “tribal” competitions this year – best dance interpretation, floats, costume – will come from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Aside from reviving the pivotal role of Aetas in Mabalacat lore, the Caragan fest has served as stage to launch local talents to the national scene.
Last year, 10-year-old Aeta boy Arjan Gilbert so wowed the crowd with his voice that went the full range from Mariah Carey to Chris Brown that he was readily taken in as a ward of the GMA Artist Center. Truly. Caragan birthed a star there.
Reviving culture, discovering talents, opening greater opportunities make one heady mix of a festival. This, a testament to the unflagging energy, steadfast dedication and total commitment to the soon-to-be-City of Mabalacat and its citizens of the people running Caragan, principally the festival’s very braintrust, June Magbalot.
A civil engineer by training, Magbalot is a culture vulture – in the most consummating positive aspect of it – by heart.
Not quite in high school yet but Magbalot had already manifested his love for culture and the arts, his teachers then entrusting him with the production of stage plays, drama skits, song and dance numbers in school programs, even impressive field demonstrations.
Thus, it was Magbalot that fits best the role to catalyze the cultural renaissance of Mabalacat – from taking under his aegis promising talents in the arts and cultural performance, sponsoring their schooling, providing for their necessities, to brainstorming the Caragan festival and just about every event in the town.
His engineering background serves Magbalot in good stead in his masterful execution of cultural events like the Caragan and the Miss Mabalacat pageant – from the planning and design, down to the minutest details of the stage, backdrops, and props to the management of logistics from food and lodging to the transport of the talents.
Magbalot is many times compared to a master gemologist – finding precious stones in the rough, and crafting them to jeweled beauty, as he did with national beauty title holders Marilen Maristela and Julia Savard.
The culturati in Magbalot, plus the double-visionary in Deng Pangilinan, his Caragan co-chair, make a one-two punch not only in the preservation but also in the promotion of Mabalacqueno culture.
SOB both – not in the context of being offspring of a female dog – but Sons of Boking, the two make Mayor Morales proud. Just don’t ask who between Magbalot and Pangilinan is the firstborn.
So can a tree live without roots? So a people, with utter disregard of its culture, can only exist but not live. That is to take it from that quote of Marcus Garvey, the national hero of Jamaica who was at one time a journalist.
It gives us thus exhilarating high to witness the ever-increasing cultural revival programs in our province – from Sasmuan’s Kuraldal to Minalin”s Aguman Sandok, from Sta. Rita’s Duman to Candaba’s Ibon-Ebun. Then too are the3 City of San Fernando’s triple-treat of Maleldo, Tugak and Giant Lantern festivals.
Relatively still a toddler compared to the well-established events, Mabalacat’s Caragan Festival, in only its third year already promises to better its elders, in sheer spectacle, impact and attendance.
An eponymous memorial to the Aeta chieftain that ruled the village that once teemed with the mighty balacat hardwood, the festival was conceived to “immortalize the lifestyles of Mabalacat’s indigenous tribes through dance and other cultural presentations.”
So noted festival co-chair June Magbalot, stressing “the centrality of dance and songs in the life of the Aetas, in celebration of their struggles and triumphs, even in their mourning.”
For the day, the unats will do an emulation of their kulut brethren: from the color of their skin to their native attire, complete with exotic headdresses, their basic gears of bows and arrows, and of course their songs and dances.
This year’s edition, to be held on February 26, will start with a parade of the “tribes” and their floats through MacArthur Highway from Barangay Mabiga to Xevera-Mabalacat in Barangay Tabun. That stretch of the national highway will be closed to traffic from 2-6 p.m. Detours and alternate routes have already been designated so as not to inconvenience the motorists.
There are 44 floats from the tribes and one each from the local government unit, Mabalacat Water District office and Xevera-developer Globe-Asiatique participating this year.
Judges in the “tribal” competitions this year – best dance interpretation, floats, costume – will come from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Aside from reviving the pivotal role of Aetas in Mabalacat lore, the Caragan fest has served as stage to launch local talents to the national scene.
Last year, 10-year-old Aeta boy Arjan Gilbert so wowed the crowd with his voice that went the full range from Mariah Carey to Chris Brown that he was readily taken in as a ward of the GMA Artist Center. Truly. Caragan birthed a star there.
Reviving culture, discovering talents, opening greater opportunities make one heady mix of a festival. This, a testament to the unflagging energy, steadfast dedication and total commitment to the soon-to-be-City of Mabalacat and its citizens of the people running Caragan, principally the festival’s very braintrust, June Magbalot.
A civil engineer by training, Magbalot is a culture vulture – in the most consummating positive aspect of it – by heart.
Not quite in high school yet but Magbalot had already manifested his love for culture and the arts, his teachers then entrusting him with the production of stage plays, drama skits, song and dance numbers in school programs, even impressive field demonstrations.
Thus, it was Magbalot that fits best the role to catalyze the cultural renaissance of Mabalacat – from taking under his aegis promising talents in the arts and cultural performance, sponsoring their schooling, providing for their necessities, to brainstorming the Caragan festival and just about every event in the town.
His engineering background serves Magbalot in good stead in his masterful execution of cultural events like the Caragan and the Miss Mabalacat pageant – from the planning and design, down to the minutest details of the stage, backdrops, and props to the management of logistics from food and lodging to the transport of the talents.
Magbalot is many times compared to a master gemologist – finding precious stones in the rough, and crafting them to jeweled beauty, as he did with national beauty title holders Marilen Maristela and Julia Savard.
The culturati in Magbalot, plus the double-visionary in Deng Pangilinan, his Caragan co-chair, make a one-two punch not only in the preservation but also in the promotion of Mabalacqueno culture.
SOB both – not in the context of being offspring of a female dog – but Sons of Boking, the two make Mayor Morales proud. Just don’t ask who between Magbalot and Pangilinan is the firstborn.
