PHILIPPINES: Residents parade roasted pigs in costumes in an age-old tradition of thanksgiving

Record ID: 791585

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Residents parade roasted pigs in costumes in an age-old tradition of thanksgiving
  • Date: 24th June 2009
  • Summary: PARADE PARTICIPANTS SPRAYING WATER
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA4310B5B5LQY3SUJED6J1ZUOGX
  • Story Text: Roasted pig or "lechon" is not only a tasty delicacy in the town of Balayan, south of Manila. They also celebrate an annual festival around the pigs.
    Townsfolk proudly parade the roasted pigs around town every June 24, in celebration of Saint John the Baptist's feast.
    More than 200 roasted pigs in garish costumes were loaded on makeshift floats and paraded under the rain on Wednesday (June 24).
    Balayan residents said the feast dates back to the late 1800's, in the Spanish colonial era, when the Philippines turned Catholic and adopted numerous religious celebrations.
    Stories from elders recall how villagers from the poorer side of town paraded roasted pigs in thanksgiving and as a boast that they could also afford some luxuries, like their more affluent neighbours.
    "A family parades a lechon as a form of thanksgiving to Saint John the Baptist for a better life, plentiful earnings, or a child's graduation," Balayan resident Dante Garcia said.
    The age-old parade has turned commercial, with local businesses displaying their logos atop the roasted pigs.
    But the festive mood has not diminished. Thousands of residents joined in the fun.
    In keeping with the influenza virus theme, a few local clubs decorated their pig with masks and dextrose bottles.
    "Even if the H1N1 virus has affected the country, we can forget about it for the meantime. Let's have fun, even for a few moments in this feast, before we return to our problems," Cris Robert Tabay said.
    The lechon is a staple in festivities around the country, from birthday parties to presidential dinners.
    Balayan folk claim their lechon is the best in the land, a boast countered by several other cities in the pork-loving nation.
    Cooking up hundreds of lechon for feast is not an easy feat. Locals are up in the wee hours, slaughtering and roasting the pigs.
    It takes four hours to roast a 55-kilogram hog to a golden crisp, which costs up to 8,000 pesos (166 U.S. dollars).
    Finnish tourist John Arnold trekked to Balayan for the festival, and said he had never seen Saint John the Baptist's feast celebrated as wildly.
    "Oh it's wonderful. This is the best fun I've ever had in the Philippines. It's innocent, it's fun, it's very very wet," Arnold said.
    Symbolising John's baptism of Jesus, villagers also mark the feast by drenching each other with water. No one escapes dry from residents armed with hoses, dippers and guns spraying passersby with water.
    Water attacks aside, locals open their doors for any visitor to partake in delicious buffet feasts with all-you-can-eat lechon.
    ENDS.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
Register