Buglasan Festival 2012 - Dance Showdown Competition

Buglasan Festival may not be one of the famous festivals in the Philippines, but it's surely one of the most colorful festivals Filipinos celebrate every year.

From the root word "Buglas" means "reeds", a tall grass-like plant found mostly in wet places. You may be thinking that Negros Oriental, our province, is a swampy area. A big 
NO. 

 

Reeds

Around 1572, Diego Lope Povedano made a map about the place, and could have marked the predominant tall reeds in the area. Negros Oriental was named Buglas Insulis before. People in the island referred to their place as “buglas.” It was changed to “Negros”, since Spaniards often saw black people with kinky hair dwelling in the place. They called these people “Negros.” There were two types of dwellers in the area called “Bukidnon” and “Negros” (brown and black).

Buglasan is a festival of festivals in Negros Oriental showcasing the province's different fiestas in every municipalities. This year’s Buglasan Festival theme is “Negros Oriental: Gearing Towards Sustainable Growth.”

I’m featuring this year’s festival celebration, because my friends who came from Iligan City (Mindanao, Philippines) wanted to witness the festival. Dumaguete City is the capital of Negros Oriental, so I am so lucky to be staying here. 

This is my friend, Maireen. She came from Iligan City with his boyfriend.

Friday, October 19, 2012 was the highlight in the two-week Buglasan Festival celebration. In the morning we watched how contingents from different municipalities compete in a Dance Showdown held in Lamberto Macias Sports Complex. 

Let me show you some beautiful photos of the morning event.

I love the colorful costumes. The dancers were mostly students in highschools and elementaries.

Each dance presentation depicted stories of their own municipality's fiesta history.

There were eight contingents this year, unlike last year which was 11. According to one of my aunt's colleague, each municapality and city who joined Buglasan Festival spent more than half a million for the costume and dance choreography. The dancers were not paid, but they're surely have plus points from their respective classes.

The price was only Php 250.00, but contingents were not after for the money. They're trying to tell everyone about how rich their culture is.

This is my aunt and my cousin. A snap-shot during the opening of Buglasan Festival 2012 - Dance Showdown competition.

Me, Ate Carmen, and My Aunt Janet

After the showdown, we reunited with my friends from Iligan City. The contingents vacated the center stage. They would have to prepare for the afternoon Street Dancing competition.

I just noticed that blue is the common color we wore.

Thank you bloggers for all the comments on my waterfalls posts. I'd like to post more about my nature trips, but I am more excited to tell about my October Fest 2012. Next post will be about the different activities during Buglasan Festival 2012 in Dumaguete City.



Just me, 
Phioxee




P.S. Thank you to Ryan for the pictures.