BONTOC, Mountain Province – Thousands of residents and visitors waited for the early afternoon thunderstorm to stop before partaking of the biggest ‘patupat’ and the traditional ‘sinab-ang,’ two of the primary delicacies of the province were served to them by local organizers of the province’s 50th founding anniversary and Lang-ay festival during the Lang-ay on the Street, one of the major highlights of this year’s festivities.
The residents and visitors already positioned themselves along the 500-meter stretch of the main road in front of the Bontoc public market to await the unveiling of the biggest ‘patupat’ and the ‘sinab-ang’ when the early afternoon rains started to pour but this did not deter the people waiting for at least an hour for the rain to stop and partake of the local delicacies.
PaulinoTumapang, chairman of the Lang-ay Festival Organization, said the over 50 members of the Afeo and Fuyayeng womens’ organizations took three days to prepare the biggest ‘patupat’ that had a dimension of 6 meters long and 4 meters high.
The ingredients of the biggest ‘patupat’ included 500 kilos of ‘diket’ or sticky rice, 50 kilos of brown sugar and 360 pieces of grated coconut.
“We encountered various challenges in our effort to provide a distinct identity for Mountain Province in this year’s Lang-ay festival but we were able to hurdle the said obstacles combined efforts with the people and officialdom of the province. We want to sustain our efforts to provide new attractions in future Lang-ay festivals,” Tumapang stressed.
Aside from the biggest ‘patupat’ and the traditional ‘sinab-ang,’ Lang-ay organizers also served to the public some 5,000 pieces of well wrapped ‘patupat’ to the public.
Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr. said the successful celebration of the province’s golden foundation anniversary and 13th Lang-ay festival could be attributed to the overwhelming support of the private and government sectors that pooled their time, effort and resources to make sure that the different activities for the week-long festivities will be at par with the standards of hosting major events held in the province.
“We should give credit to where credit is due. We were able to successfully hurdle the obstacles that confronted us through our unity, teamwork, and solidarity as well as our love for Mountain Province. We must sustain the momentum established in our future endeavors,” Lacwasan stressed.
By HENT