Menfolk in Minalin, Pampanga greet the first day of New Year with joy as they dress up as women to poke fun on their manliness in a festival that turns 82 years this 2017. (Photo by TONETTE T. OREJAS/Inquirer Central Luzon)
MINALIN, Pampanga — The menfolk of Minalin, also known as the “Egg Basket of Luzon” for its large-scale poultry industry that produces millions of eggs, greet the very first day of the year with a peculiar revelry.
At 2 p.m. on New Year’s Day, they rush out of 15 villages and converge at the town center in Barangay San Nicolas to poke fun at their manliness by wearing the dresses, makeup and jewelry of their mothers, wives and sisters.
The homegrown dance parade performed by heterosexual men is called “Aguman Sanduk” or the “Fellowship of the Ladle.” Began 82 years ago, the parade is unique in the country.
Looking for fun
“It’s just about having fun, being happy, spreading happiness at the start of a new year,” said Mayor Edgar Flores, who has been joining the merrymaking since his teens.
The pioneers in 1934 were simply looking for a “pikatulan,” or source of fun, Rolando Yabut recalled. His father Feliciano and uncle Aguido, Gervacio Macapinlac, Francisco Lagman and Mayor Hilario Serrano were among those who began what has become an annual event in Minalin.
“Macho as they were, they wore their wives’ clothes and wore lipstick. They mimicked the way women walk. Of course, the women laughed out loud,” Yabut said.
Ugliest man in drag
The participating men, who must be 20 years and above end the event in two ways: First, they choose the queen who is the ugliest man in drag. The queen is awarded the ladle made of coconut shell and bamboo, and the clay pot
that today remain symbols of the festival.
Second, they share “lelut” (rice porridge with bits of chicken) before parting ways or before drinking the night away.
Over time, the villages fielded floats to show off their “queens,” who are trailed by a contingent of virile-looking men trying to dance, walk and act like women.
It can get garish when some put on fake, oversized breasts or are hilarious when they perform funny scenes out of life’s serious situations.
Organizers, on the other hand, stage pageants, hold dance parties and mount zarzuelas from Bacolor or Lubao town, said lawyer Ricardo Sagmit, 75. He was 29 and a delegate to the constitutional convention when he joined the festival in 1972.
The Aguman Sanduk retains a few elements of the original festivities: The modern version still features floats and pageants. Nobody could say when the sharing of the rice porridge was excluded from the event.]
No gay parade
Flores said the Aguman Sanduk should not be mistaken for a gay pride parade. “This is not to discriminate against gay men. [The gays] respect the tradition [that it’s an all-men event],” he said.
The festival levels the playing field, so to speak, because it allows rich or poor, professionals or fishermen to join.
Sagmit wore his sister’s bridal gown while his consort, Justice Roberto Lagman (son of pioneer Francisco Lagman), wore an Igorot g-string.
In that festival where nearby towns also participated, Sagmit was adjudged the Reyna Sanduk.
He said the event was “Minalin’s way of greeting the new year with happiness, joy, peace and unity.”