Wet Lanzones Festival in Camiguin

Today begun the annual Lanzones Festival in Camiguin. Since early this morning it is raining. A local depression brings bad weather to north-east Mindanao and the Bohol Sea. 

The full program and schedule of the 2014 Lanzones Festival in Camiguin can be found here.

Photos of past festivals are here.

Lanzones Festival is an annual thanksgiving celebration for Camiguin Island’s bountiful harvest. The town of Mambajao holds the feast during the third week of October, in time for the season of the tropical fruit lanzones. The province of Camiguin is known for having the sweetest lanzones among the abundant sources of the fruit along the north-central coast of Mindanao. The locals and tourists enjoy this weeklong celebration with a line-up of activities showcasing the richness culture in Camiguin like street dancing, grand lanzones parade, agri-cottage industry products exhibits, and beauty pageants. Aside from this, the people also await the annual barangay beautification contest, indigenous sports, and tableau of local culture within the week.

It is believed that the celebration started with the local legend about a childless couple who wished for a child from a lanzones tree fairy. The fairy granted them a healthy baby boy but the couple forgot to thank her. One day, a suspicious-looking woman approached their child while he was playing. The boy suddenly fell unconscious. His parents thought that it was the lanzones fairy who had enchanted the boy. The couple decided to perform a ritual to appease the fairy and, sure enough, the child became well again.

The following year, the couple invited the neighboring barrio to participate in the thanksgiving ritual. From then on, the ritual became an annual festivity in Camiguin to recreate the ceremonies done by the ancient forefathers of the island to the gods that provide good weather and abundant harvest.

(Text courtesy of WikiPilipinas.org)

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