Buglasan Parade

In Dumaguete City, Philippines, the Buglasan Festival is celebrated every year at around this time. Banners and streamers gaily deck the lamp posts of Dumaguete City announcing the Buglasan Festival and the main activities that make it a must-see affair. The Philippines is well-known for the Festivals and Fiestas that seem to happen all year long and travellers and tourists have come to enjoy these events.

Trying to get to the downtown area yesterday was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The Buglasan Parade was scheduled for the afternoon and participants were lined up on the streets leading up to the downtown area where the parade was going to take place. Large drums on wheels, boys and girls dressed up in costumes that could only be dreamed up by gay designers, streamers and banners decked the streets like a surreal movie scene. Trying to get across to the Boulevard where I wanted to go, as Bethel Guest House was my destination, was near impossible and it was infinitely easier to turn around and retrace my route.

Dumaguete tries to outdo herself every year in putting up the best Buglasan Festival and it is indeed a treat to residents and visitors alike. There might be detractors and critics but who cares? the public wants bread and circuses and there are plenty of those at the Freedom Park. It seems to me that festivals are a part of a community's life. Way back when there was some criticism that Filipinos seem to be spending so much on Fiestas which only last a couple of days while struggling on ginamos the whole year through. A little bit of controversy was raised but nobody cared. Fiestas are fun! Now it seems that one fiesta is not enough. Cities and municipalities start new fiestas and everybody seems to love them. It is a whole new reason to go to another area and enjoy. C'est la vie.

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