In Paoay, Mardi Gras gets local flavor

PAOAY, Ilocos Norte—Residents here on Tuesday marked their version of Mardi Gras, through the Guling-Guling Festival, with a taste of tradition.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty food before the 40-day fasting for Lent that starts on Ash Wednesday.

In this town, Guling-guling, which means smearing the forehead with an image of the cross, is a pre-Lent tradition that is one of the town’s main attractions.

Yearly, it draws a growing number of tourists to this town and, in the process, breathes life to a centuries-old industry, inabel, or loom-woven fabric.

Janet Cabugon, who runs an inabel shop here, said the festival means good business to merchants like her because tourists are inspired to buy fabrics when they see residents in their elaborately tailored inabel clothes.

“We stock up on inabel goods days before the festival because they sell like hot cakes. Our best sellers are household accents and blankets,” she said.

Loom weaving, which was passed on through generations here, has remained a principal livelihood in this town. Loom weavers have formed cooperatives to sustain the industry.

“Guling” was derived from an Ilocano word that means to mark, smear or make a sign on a person’s forehead using wet, white rice flour that signifies purity.

After the marking of foreheads, festival participants led by Paoay Mayor Bonifacio Clemente danced their way on the streets ending at the Paoay church.

Townsfolk believe that through the imprint, a person is cleansed of his sins.

The four-day celebration began with the opening of a trade fair showcasing the town’s homegrown products like inabel, chichacorn, handcrafted clay products, cash crops like garlic and onions, and the Ilocano staple bagnet (deep fried pork) and longganiza (native sausage).

Other events included cultural and pageant shows, a competition for the best decorated house embodying the festival concept, parades and a food fair featuring the Ilocano rice cake dudol.