BONTOC, Mountain Province November 15 – A civic parade and cultural performances launched the celebrations for the Mountain Province’s golden anniversary and 13th Lang-ay Festival at the Provincial Plaza recently.
The program started with an ecumenical prayer by representatives of the Bontoc Ecumenical Group while elders performed the traditional opening rite, “tekwab” and pig offering to Kabunyan.
Vice-Governor Francis O. Tauli performed the “sikmat” which signified the act of securing all that is good and positive (good vibes, luck etc.) so that these shall stay with the people ensuring prosperity and blessings for all. It literally means clutching or holding on to something tightly to prevent it from getting snatched or grabbed.
In his message, Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. commended the organizers of the event and urged the people to remember the aims of the 50th founding year of the province.
Since the launching of the two biggest events in the province coincided with the culminating activity of Indigenous People’s (IP) month, the province’s very own son, Atty. Roland P. Calde, National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP)–CAR regional director was the guest speaker.
Speaking before the crowd, Atty. Calde said that the Lang-ay Festival promotes our culture as it speaks of our cultural integrity as peoples of Mountain Province.
“We as one people should work together towards peace and progress in our place,” he said.
The guest speaker reminded everyone to sustain and strengthen our good practices because aside from our native attires and dances, these practices are our trademark which speaks of the peoples of Mountain Province.
“We must not also forget to teach these good practices to our children because this is one of our duties as members of a community,” he said. He further emphasized education is important in building one’s self, one’s family, community, and province.
Meanwhile, the solidarity dance kindled the interest of the crowd including the provincial officials and guests to dance when all the different cultural performers simultaneously beat their gongs. This depicted the uniqueness, oneness, and solidarity of the people.
At the same activity, the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) rekindled the partnership between the provincial government and the private sector through the Lang-ay Festival Organization Inc. for the conduct of the two big events. Gov. Lacwasan earlier invited the Lang-ay Festival Organization to spearhead the preparations of Lang-ay 2017 in tandem with the provincial government.
With the theme “Mountain Province at 50: Reminiscing and Fostering Our Cultural Integrity” the two big events were formally launched following the unveiling of the different activities.
The celebrations are slated for April 3-9 2017, with the 7th intended solely for the celebration of the founding anniversary of the province.
According to Roger Sacyaten, Head Secretariat of the 50th Foundation Anniversary and Lang-ay Cultural Festival, Lang-ay is a tool for the celebration of the Mountain Province Day and since it is the province’s golden anniversary, visitors expect some innovations on the presentations and activities.
The Lang-ay Festival Organization, through the Secretariat, is looking for proposals for additional activities that had not been done in previous years.
“This is to let the other sectors contribute their innovative ideas for the Lang-ay,” Sacyaten said.
The activities for the 2017 celebrations include street dancing as the kick-off activity on the 3rd of April and on the same day is the launching of the Agro-Trade Fair. Indigenous sports are scheduled on April 4-7, the Cultural Exposition is on April 6-7 while the Igorot Showdown and Ethnic Fashion Show are scheduled for April 7. The street dancing and cultural presentation are scheduled for the morning of April 8 while the Lang-ay by the Street will be held on the afternoon of the same date.
Indigenous games are scheduled on the 8th of April and newly included games include indigenous cook fest with safeng challenge, inet-etaan, and fagfagto id wanga. In the evening of the same day is the Gangsa Night and closing program shall include the awarding ceremonies.
By Erwin Batnag
