Albay’s Magayon Festival highlights ‘faith tourism’

A DANCE FOR CAGSAWA The Cagsawa HistoriKultura Dance Troupe, representing the Cagsawa Festival of Daraga, wins the street dance presentation during the culminating event of Albay’s Magayon Festival held in Legazpi City on Friday. The performance of the contingent, composed of students from the town’s different barangays, reflected the rich and colorful history of the historic village of Cagsawa, which is famous for the ruins of the church destroyed by Mayon Volcano’s eruption in 1814, and the town of Daraga itself. —Mark Alvic Esplana

LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY, Philippines — Clad in colorful festival attire, contingents from different towns and cities in Albay swayed to the beat of the drums, and celebrated both faith and Bicolano culture during the street dance competition on Friday at the culmination of the monthlong Magayon Festival in the province.

With a performance focused on honoring Catholic traditions, the Cagsawa Festival of Daraga town, the Coron Festival of Tiwi town, and the Sarung Banggi Festival of Sto. Domingo town took the top three honors.

The Cagsawa Festival, which bagged the P500,000 first prize for the street presentation and P50,000 for best in moving choreography, celebrated the culture and faith of Albayanos and commemorated the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano that destroyed the Cagsawa Church and left hundreds of people dead.

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The Coron Festival contingent, which took home P400,000 in cash for street presentation, was accompanied by a float designed to look like a pilgrimage boat, with the image of Our Lady of Salvation and belfry of the town’s church. Tiwi’s float came first, with P50,000 in cash prize.

Sarung Banggi Festival, meanwhile, received P300,000 for its street presentation.

The contingents from Legazpi City and the towns of Tiwi, Daraga, Sto. Domingo and Manito performed their tribal dances at a kilometer stretch of Rizal Street in Legazpi, from Vel Amor Subdivision to Peñaranda Park.

Tourism, trade boost

The festival took a hiatus when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020 and returned last year, but with less fanfare and only for two weeks, said Dorothy Colle, Albay’s provincial tourism officer.

This year, about 80 events were scheduled for the whole month of May, with the hope of boosting tourism and trade in the province.

Colle said one of the highlights was the Marian fluvial parade held on May 1, to introduce Our Lady of Salvation, a revered Catholic icon of the village of Joroan of Tiwi, with the hope that the chapel where the image is ensconced would “hopefully become a national shrine.”

“We also want to introduce faith tourism here in Albay, [as] we have culture and arts, ecological activities, and now this kind of event to invite tourists and devotees,” Colle said in a phone interview on Saturday.

Hundreds of Marian devotees joined the 62-km “Inang Magayon Maritime Procession” from Joroan’s pier to Sawangan Park at Legazpi Boulevard on May 1.

Herbie Aguas, director of the Department of Tourism Bicol, said activities like these would benefit local businesses, especially the local transportation, restaurants, hotels, and other tourist-related establishments.

“If we look at Camarines Sur, why they are number one in tourist arrival [all year round], it’s because of [the] Peñafrancia [Festival] … and the devotees of ‘Ina’ [who] flock every [September] in Naga City,” Aguas said in a private chat message on Saturday.

The feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Bicol’s patroness revered as “Ina” (Blessed Mother) by its devotees and whose image is enshrined in the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Naga City, is celebrated every third or fourth Sunday of September, drawing thousands of pilgrims, mostly Bicolanos scattered in other parts of the country and abroad. But all year round, Marian devotees would also visit the church to pay homage to “Ina.”