Ati-Atihan Festival
15th January 2006
See... my... hat.
See my hat.
Made from real vampire bat.
Mr. Burns
History
In the year 1250, a bunch of dudes from
Borneo packed up their families and headed to the Philippines. They
landed on Panay and managed to convince the aboriginal Ati Tribe
that a gold necklace and a hat was a good deal for the lowland areas of
Panay. The locals had a song and dance to commemorate the event before heading off to the
highlands. Even since then, the locals have had a festival to
remember the event.
I'm not entirely sure why
it is still celebrated. I mean a hat and a gold necklace are
pretty cool, but are they worth most of an island? I don't think
so.
Road
Trip
I decided to head off to Kalibo with the Australian
volunteers to join in the annual festivities. We hired a van
and headed north. We made a brief stop at a resort to dip our
tootsies into some unusually cold water. I imagined the locals
thought we were some sort of religious zealots
dipping our feet into the holy river.
Kalibo was completely booked out,
so we decided to stay at the Julieta's Hotel
in the nearby Roxas. It was a nice hotel that cost us 485 pesos ($NZ 12.12)
each for two rooms. Not only did it have hot showers (my first for
three months!), but it also had cable television that showed some
cricket! Hooray!
We decided to have tea at the local
Jolibee's*. When we got there though there were hardly
any seats available. One of the helpful Jolibee workers
ushered us into our own separate dining area.
There were ten or so empty tables in the room and us. I felt very
special. It was like the "Americans" were put into a
fishbowl for all the locals to look at and admire.
We also saw a collection of local
Filipino movies collectively called "Shake, Rattle and Roll
2K5".
Worst. Movies.
Ever.
The movies were in Tagalog, with a
few
English phrases were thrown in. "I feel so unofficial"
was my favorite.
We caught a tricycle the next
morning and headed into town to try and find a minivan that would take
us to Kalibo.
As we were heading down the main street, about three or so mad
Filipinos jumped out onto the road and screamed "Kalibo!
Kalibo" at us. Their enthusiasm was admirable. I took a photo
of them, which just made their day, before we headed off with them to
Kalibo.
Kalibo Festival
Kalibo was busy. Very busy. Tricycles were everywhere
and there were masses of people. Percussion
bands wandered around the streets playing tunes while
random people danced along with them. Strange characters were
everywhere. Witches, men
in nappies and dwarfs were all
present. Heck, even Jesus Himself put in an
appearance. And, of course, their were many merchants trying to
sell souvenirs.
The undoubted highlight though was the street
parade. This started out as a formal event by soon degenerated
into semi-organised chaos. Everyone was having a fantastic time
though. Strangely enough, there were very few obnoxious drunk
people. Pictures of the parade can be found here.
Being a Celebrity in a Festival
There wasn't a lot of foreigners around, which was a bit of surprise
considering that the Ati-Atihan festival is the biggest of its sort in
the Philippines. I saw this one white guy and shouted out
"Hey Joe!"** to him. He looked thoroughly
confused. Maybe his name actually was "Joe".
Since there were very few westerners around, we were all treated like mini-celebrities.
Selected highlights include:
-
Souvenir Photos
Some local guys approached me and asked if he could take a souvenir
photo of us. I said "Sure thing buddy," and the
other volunteers and I all posed for his photos. I thought it was
only fair if I return the favor.
-
Television Interview
Shane and I were in full swing when I got a tap on the
shoulder. I turned around and there was a cameraman and a
television reporter who wanted to interview me. He asked the
usual sort of questions. "Are you enjoying
yourself?", "Where are you from?", "Is this your
first time here?" and so on.
I rattled off the answers and threw in a couple of Hilygaynon words
just to show off. Shane answered a similar array of questions.
When we got back to Dumangas, several people told me that they saw
me on television. Excellent! The kids at school was particularly
excited. The Captain of Tabucan was proud that I was wearing
my D.C.V. shirt at the
time of the interview
-
Banging Drums
I was invited by one band member to help him bang
his drum. I tried as best as I could to keep rhythm, but I
am pretty useless when it comes to anything musical. Lotsa fun
anyway.
-
Everyone's friend
There was a lot of "Hey Joes". Lotsa
people giving you high fives and that sort of stuff. I found
that when I said "Hi" to someone and acknowledged them, it
tended to start off a chain reaction and I'd be forever saying
"Hi" to people.
I will find it hard when I get back to New Zealand and people don't
treat me like the demigod I am.
On a slight side-note, I got insulted for the first time
today. I was helping out with a math competition in the
central school. One kid, who must of been all of 8 years old,
said "Hey Joe", to me. So I turned around to see
what he wanted. He flipped me the bird and said "Fuck you
man". Little shit.
Lowlights
Lowlight Number 1: Assassinations
and Security
At the last Ati-Atihan festival, a General of the Filipino Army
was assassinated by one of his bodyguards. The bodyguard managed
to take down five other people before he himself was killed.
I did not know that this had
happened until I returned from the festival. I think I would of
gone anyway, but it would of been nice to know.
There were security personal
everywhere at the festival. The army was present and even brought
along an armored personal carrier. I asked one of the soldiers if
it was okay if I took this photo. I thought
it best I asked first as I didn't want to get shot...
A heavily armed S.W.A.T.
team was also present. Each of them had two pistols, stacks of
spare ammunition and a Big Gun. I am unsure what type of Big Gun
it was and whether it was a semi-automatic or fully-automatic. It
plainly had a Good End and a Bad End though and that is the most
important feature of a Big Gun.
All this security seemed a little
token though. It would of been quite easy to smuggle in a gun if
you wanted to.
There were no serious security
incidents at the festival this year.
Lowlight Number 2: Beggars
Wherever there is extreme poverty, you get beggars .
This lady approached me more than
once. White people have more money so I guess it makes sense to
target them. She had a horrible lost look in her eyes. She
seemed almost beyond caring whether she got the money or not.
She approached me one time with
an infant about six months old. She pointed to the child before
holding out her hand. The lost look in her eyes was just the
same. I saw her sleeping in the park later on with the infant
asleep on the top of her. Hard to imagine much of a future for
her kids.
I didn't know quite what to make
of the fact that she looked pregnant. Should I say that it is
wrong for her to bring another child into her world? That's a
very arrogant thing to say, and it seems as if I am stomping on her
basic human rights. "You're not good enough to breed, so
please stop." Hrmm...
Then again, what else has she
got to do? I think she had a partner (husband?) who spent most
of the time asleep in the park. I guess sex gives them some
small amount of pleasure in their otherwise fucked up world.
There was also a blind
guy playing on his portable piano. His mate would push the
piano while he would shuffle along and play some tunes. I
thought it was good that he was trying to do something.
Showing some initiative and all that.
It reminds me of the blind masseuses
that I see in the malls. It was good to see them taking their
disadvantage and turning it into some sort of advantage. Good
for them.
I did not give the lady or the
blind guy any money. I don't give any money to people who ask me
in Dumangas. I figure that I am already sacrificing a massive
amount to be here, but I think it's more to do with not wanting to be
constantly pestered for money. I'm sure that if I gave one of
them some money, I be mobbed every time I headed into town. I'd
hate that.
That was not the case with the
lady and the blind guy. They'll never see me again (especially
the blind guy...), so I won't get pestered by them. Fifty pesos
is nothing to me, but a lot to them. So I'm not sure why I
didn't. Maybe I should next time...
Lowlight Number 3: The
President
Her Excellency, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the
Philippines decided to grace the festival with her presence. She
arrived in a big convoy of S.U.V.'s and then disappeared into a building
to, I assume, Meet and Greet.
She did eventually made an
appearance on the balcony for all of about ten seconds. While I am
not a fan of the things she does, I still found myself running to try
and take a photo of her. Why did I run? I'm not sure.
Maybe it's just the draw of a celebrity being present. Shane
managed to get this photo in. I was too slow
though and my photo was quite crappy.
A guy on the loudspeaker tried to
get a "Long Live the President" chant going. The
response was lackluster at best.
I think her appearance was brief
for two reasons. Firstly, I suspect she was concerned about the
events at the last festival. Secondly, I think she is a little
nervous about the disgruntled state of most Filipinos. Things are just
getting worse and worse here and people are starting to become
angry. Wages are static and the cost of consumables are going up
and up.
Some people that I have talked to
suspect that the President will impose martial law soon, ala President
Marcos, to ensure that she remains in power. Squash the revolution
before it has a chance to start.
Are these people just nervous and
overreacting, or is it a serious option? Dunno.
Homeward
Bound
In all we spent two days at the Festival. 'twas great fun and
a good time was had by all.
We jumped into a minivan and began
the four hour journey back to Dumangas. We shared with
some other folk and paid 150 pesos ($NZ 3.75) each for the ride.
The ride back was ghastly.
There was a total of seven people in the front row with me. Two of
them were small children, but I still was squashed up against the side
of the van with my bum on half a seat. I was in desperate
need of a butt massage by the time we got back.
We decided to treat ourselves and
had tea at the very flash Al Dente restaurant
in Iloilo city. The total bill for four three-course meals and
drinks was 1700 pesos ($NZ 42.50).
* What? Why
are you eating junk food like that Crazymalc? I thought you said
you weren't eating that sort of stuff anymore?
You probably need to read this page
in a little more detail...
**Filipinos often refer
to white guys as "Joe". As in "G.I. Joe", an
informal term for an American soldier.
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2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
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