Tabucan Fiesta
25th December 2005
Every Barangay in the Philippines has a fiesta once a year.
This year, Tabucan decided to combine its Christmas celebrations with
its Fiesta celebrations due to economic constraints.
Fiesta Queen and Princesses
Tabucan hasn't had a Fiesta Queen since the year 2000 due to a lack
of a place to stage it. They recently completed their new facilities
and celebrated by reinstating the Fiesta Queen tradition.
But what exactly is a Fiesta Queen and how does one become one?
Well firstly the locals will take great pride in their Queen.
She will be expected to invite people around to her families home, attend official functions and so on. The mayor said in his speech
that she will serve as a source of inspiration for the people.
Kinda like a Miss World.
There are many ways to become a Fiesta Queen. The most common,
as far as I can tell, is to petition the people. You ask friends
and family to sponsor you. Whoever has the most money at the end,
wins! Pretty simple really. 40% of the money is kept by the
Queen to help her pay for all those dinner parties and the rest goes to
charity, usually the local church.
Being the Fiesta Queen is a source of great pride. So the
family of the potential Queen will often donate large amounts of money
to ensure she wins. The winning total often gets up to 200,000
pesos ($NZ 5,000). I always try and keep money in perspective here
by considering the average farm laborer. He earns 100 pesos ($NZ
2.50) a day for back breaking labor in the sun. And those are on
the days when he can work. No work. No money. So, it
would take a farm laborer about five and and half years to save this
sort of cash... Naturally, only the daughters of the more wealthy
families have any sort of shot at becoming Queen.
Often a beauty pageant is held as well. The winner of the pageant
will use the prize money to increase her chances of winning.
In Tabucan, there were three ladies competing for the title. Joanna
Grace the First won, and the two other ladies became princesses.
The Parade
A parade was organised for the locals to shown off their star, Her Majesty, Queen Joanna Grace the
First. And, yes, that's her official title.
The parade started outside the Captain's office and wound it's way
around the streets of Dumangas. I'm not sure if I was suppose to,
but I jumped onto one of the floats and waved
to the crowds.
The Queen, of course, got a float designed
especially for her. She was very popular with the crowds.
She was accompanied by about ten or so cute kids.
Page boys. Sash bearers. Stuff like that.
Nicole, the daughter of Reza (the lady I
am staying with) was one of the cute kids. Reza and a flock
of ladies spent about an hour getting Nicole ready for the
parade.
The parade eventually made its way the Tabucan Basketball Court, where the
royal party was danced to,
sang at and spoken to.
Official Stuff
Christmas evening saw the official coronation
of Queen Joanna Grace the First.
The official ceremony was delayed by an hour or so in the hope that
the rain go away. It didn't. It was
raining on-and-off throughout the whole evening, which was a bit of a
shame.
Ciaran and I were the only volunteers
present. Most of the other volunteers were spending time at
touristy type places. I think they really appreciated that Ciaran
and I were
there and chose to attend their special event. The
Mayor was also there. He is in great demand on Christmas, so
it was a great that he could be there also.
Once again, there was lots of dancing for the Queen. Some of it
traditional, some of it not.
The Queen and the Princesses all received traditional items.
Things like sashes, bouquets of flowers, trophies and the like.
The escorts all got a present of some sort. I wasn't nosy enough
to get up close and have a look to see what the presents were.
The 2000 Queen was also present. She had done a recording of
what being Queen meant to her. This was played over a regal tune
as she did her official walk to the stage. The voiceover talked a
lot about what being Queen meant to her. How it was a great honor
and something she will never forget and will always treasure. She officially handed
over her scepter and crown to the new queen.
To celebrate the handover, lots of fireworks were lit. Unfortunately,
one of the displays fell over and caught fire and
flooded the stage with smoke. Oops.
The Queen and escort then had their official dance. It was a
special moment. God Himself turned up and shone
His light upon them. I was
invited to dance with the Queen by the Master of Ceremonies, but I chose
not too. Foolish boy. One should always dance with pretty
ladies when one gets a chance.
That about wrapped up the official stuff. I tried to say
congratulations to the Queen, but she was quickly swamped
by well wishers.
Despite the rain, most people got up for a boogie
as part of the post-coronation dance party.
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(c)
2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
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