Residents from different communities of Barangay Pampang in Angeles City danced and paraded through the road and streets of their village while wearing colorful costumes and powdered charcoals on their faces to celebrate the Ulingan Festival during the feast of Santo Niño on Sunday. (Photo from RWG Shots and Angels through the Lens)
ANGELES CITY — Pampang village here staged on Sunday (Jan. 15) its local version of the Sinulog Festival to pay tribute to Santo Niño, its patron saint.
Dozens of village folk in colorful costumes paraded the roads and streets of Pampang while dancing and chanting “Viva Señor Santo Niño!” while hundreds of residents and spectators from other areas watched their performances.
Known as “Ulingan Festival,” participants and spectators wore powdered charcoals on their faces and other parts of their body.
Pampang village and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials described the festival as “the Sinulog in Barangay Pampang celebration.”
Residents of the village who commented on the social media pages of Pampang village and Pampang SK commended the barangay and youth officials for the first-ever Ulingan festival.
On its Facebook page, the SK Pampang described the event as the “grandest and most festive comeback” of the fiesta celebration in the village.
It said that “ulingan” (putting or rubbing charcoal) is now the trademark of Pampang’s fiesta.
“This trademark was a representation of the tradition in Barangay Pampang wherein charcoal is the main “weapon” of its residents during the exact day of fiesta to showcase their hospitality by means of rubbing someone’s skin with crushed charcoal,” it explained.
The fiesta was highlighted by street dancing, a parade of floats, and people carrying images of the Santo Niño. INQ