ONE OF the horses in the costume contest at the ninth Kahimunan Festival last Sept. 21 in the remote upland town of Laak, Compostela Valley, which used to celebrate the feast with spectacles of horses killing each other FRINSTON LIM
LAAK, Compostela Valley—Reputations were at stake when horses paraded in this town dressed in their best costumes for the ninth Kahimunan Festival.
Previous festivals had brought them center stage undressed as warriors ready to fight for their lives in bloody horse fights that officials decided to put a stop to.
It was a welcome change in reputation, however, as the town continued its tradition of honoring the animal that has given its farmers immeasurable help in their good harvests and for which the horse was bestowed the title “king of the road.”
Horses again took center stage last Wednesday, but not as the fierce warriors previous fights turned them into. This time, they were dressed like the kings that farmers considered them to be.
“It’s basically a celebration of bountiful harvest and the strong bond between the original lumad residents and the settlers with horses as common element in their cultures,” Mayor Reynaldo Navarro said.
Most of the town’s 40 barangays are difficult to reach by jeeps or tricycles and it is the reason why horses are the main mode of transportation for most residents, he said.
“So they thought of honoring the horses through a ‘horse fashion show,’” said the mayor.
Each village fielded an entry. “The more colorful the costume and the more indigenous the materials used, the more edge in winning,” said Janice Ollave, town information officer.
The pageant was also the town’s way of putting a stop to horse fights, which had been part of tribal tradition. “As far as tribal tradition is concerned, horse-fighting is popular,” she said.
But Ollave said protests against the brutality of the event prompted feast organizers this year not to hold it.
More than just honoring tradition, the best dressed horse contest was also Laak’s way of immortalizing the use of horses as a mode of transportation, which is disappearing because of new roads and motorcycles, officials said.
Fernando Briones, village chief of Kilagding, said the advent of motorcycles “marginalized” the use of horses. Briones, whose community is some 13 kilometers from the town center, said horse-riding has been, and would be, both a tradition and a necessity. “Motorcycles could crash, horses do not,” he said.
“Horse-fighting was a sure crowd-drawer but we could stage a less deplorable event in the horse costume contest. We chose to stage the latter,” Mayor Navarro added.
The winner in the costume contest was a horse with a reputation for being a demon in previous fights. Its name is Korekek and it carries a fight record of seven wins, one loss and one draw.
This time, Korekek wasn’t draped in blood, but in a red cape carrying baskets of fruits that are the town’s forest bounty. Its being a demon in horse fights wasn’t noticeable when it paraded to win the best dressed contest.
Korekek, used to winning prizes for its owners in fights, didn’t disappoint despite not having to gnaw, kick and bloody its way to fame. It won P2,000 for its owner in the costume contest and started a major paradigm shift in a town that used to cheer bloodied horses.