Pasigarbo sa Sugbo (Pride of Cebu) is a festival of festivals.
It is usually celebrated annually every last Sunday of August during the founding anniversary of Cebu. It showcases the rich history, religion, culture and tradition thru dance and decorative arts of each cities and municipalities from the Southern and Northern part of Cebu. This event promotes their beautiful town and their tourism.
The City of Bogo had taken part in the festival representing Kuyayang Festival last August 25 being contingent number 43 among the 51 contingents.
It is a traditional dance of love and courtship. Kuyayang Festival depicts how a man would go lengths such as chopping woods and fetching water just to prove and show his love and get the approval of his woman's parents. Our festival aims to enlighten the people on how us, Bogohanons truly love and also for the current generation, the gen z, to familiarize the traditional courtship way back 1900s; given the modern ways nowadays and the evolution of the technologies.
The city specifically the working committee exerted a massive amount of effort for the event from planning to realizing. Teams were created such as monitoring, kitchen, transportation, logistics, and such. This was my first time joining the team and it felt overwhelming. I was part of the monitoring team wherein we were tasked to check the dancers attendance, check if they have already had their meals and make sure the dancers are in good condition and safe.
PSS 2024 Committee Meeting.
The preparations.
Meetings after meetings were conducted. Screenings and auditions took place and dancers were chosen. And practices began from Mondays to Saturdays.
Mid-June. Start of Practice.
Challenges like students and props men's class schedules during practice, transportation mishaps and late night sleeps were constantly faced. Those were just few. My sleeping schedule is 10pm for me to get a 7-8 hours of sleep but needed to sacrifice for two months to monitor the dancers who always finish their practice at 12 midnight.
Technical practice in front of Bogo City Hall with costumes and props.
Practices were done on a daily from 8am to 12 midnight or sometimes beyond that as the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo was fast approaching. I know the dancers were already exhausted but they never fail to put a smile on their faces. On the other hand, dealing with a handful of props men who are quite stubborn and playful dancers did stretch our patience. Two months of doing this and I got acquainted to the dancers who were under my group.
The Mayor's Introduction Video shoot together with the City Officials and the festival queen.
Calendar of Activities.
August 20, 2024 (Tuesday)
Meeting with the working team (Kitchen, logistics, drivers, haulers, drivers, emergency response team and monitoring team) presided by the vice-chairman.
Matters like the schedules of travel to Cebu City, drop off of dancers and props, the routes, bus assignments, emergency response, blocking, billeting school and room assignments were discussed so as other related concerns.
August 22, 2024 (Thursday)
The send off mass for the performers was held at Don Celestino III Sports Complex at 4 in the afternoon.
Followed by the distribution of kits, porta mats and allowances. The joy filled the whole complex upon receiving and opening their kits. This fueled their energy for the upcoming competition.
August 23, 2024 (Friday)
All set to travel to Cebu City.
At around 7 in the morning, we traveled our way to our Billeting School. We arrived at 10:30 in the morning and went to our room assignments to rest then had lunch.
Our Billeting School, Lahug Elementary School.
At 1pm, we all rode in our assigned bus to Cebu City Sports Center for our scheduled blocking. When it was our turn, it started to drizzle which made us all worried. Most of the performers were already not feeling well, had less hours of sleep and rest. The drizzle would definitely affect them.
Blocking at Cebu City Sports Center.
True enough, in the evening, when we checked each rooms for monitoring purposes, a lot of them got fever. Upon checking their temperature, it reaches to 38 to 39 degree celsius. We took them out of their room and had them stayed in our monitoring room to monitor their temperature and to ensure that they drank their medicines every after four hours.
August 24, 2024 (Saturday)
The dancers and props men had practice at the gym in the morning and took a rest in the afternoon after lunch. While us in the monitoring were busy with the preparations for tomorrow's event and also monitored our sick dancers and props men. At night, the number of sick performers escalated from 4 to 12. Our monitoring room became the quarantine room in an instant. Thankfully, there was a nurse from the Bogo City Health Office who helped and guided us in taking care of them.
We became nurses real quick. Few of them were already discharged. LOL Thank you Lord.
August 25, 2024 (Sunday)
Monitoring Team in Action.
D-day. Pasigarbo sa Sugbo day. We woke the dancers up at 3am for the preparation since the call time for the make-up was 5-6am. Everyone was a busy bee preparing all the necessary for the street dancing and the ritual showdown. At 12 noon, we went to the assembly area which was in V. Rama.
The street dancing started at 4pm and thankfully the weather was not that sunny thus, it was not too hot however, it rained. While waiting for our turn, we let the dancers and props men rest at the bus.
Look how tired they were.
Hours later, we reached Capitol were the street dancing shall start. It was already 9 in the evening and we were waiting since 12 noon. Imagine the exhaustion of the dancers of each municipalities and cities coupled with the rainy weather. But still kudos to them for giving their A-game during the street dancing.
Snaps of the street dancing.
Rain or Shine and tired but the show must go on.
Since we were contingent number 43, we got to perform at 12 midnight. Each contingents were only given 5 minutes to perform plus 1 minute entrance and 1 minute exit.
The Ritual Showdown.
Ang Sayaw Sa Bogo (Bogo's dance), Kuyayang.
Though we did not make it to Top 15 and did not win any special awards, still Congratulations to all of us especially to the performers who had immense passion, dedication and commitment in representing Bogo City. You did an amazing job in representing us. What you did was not easy. Your efforts and sacrifices meant a lot and were highly and greatly appreciated.
Moreover, here are the Cities and Municipalities who made it to Top 15 in GRAND RITUAL SHOWDOWN:
1st - Dagitab Festival of Naga City
2nd - Sugat Kabanhawan Festival of Minglanilla
3rd - Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu of Lapu-Lapu City
4th - Kabkaban Festival of Carcar City
5th - Isda Festival of Madridejos
6th - Panagtagbo Festival of Mandaue City
7th - Tuba Festival of Borbon
8th - Sikoy-Sikoy Festival of San Fernando
9th - Rosquillos Festival of Liloan and Hinulawan Festival of Toledo
10th - La Torta Festival of Argao
11th - Kagasangan Festival of Moalboal
12th - Sarok Festival of Consolacion
13th - Katunggan Festival of Tudela and Que Alegre Festival of Alegria
14th - Banig Festival of Badian
15th - Tubod Festival of Tuburan and Bonga Festival of Sibonga
SPECIAL AWARDS
STREETDANCING WINNERS:
1st - Kabkaban Festival of Carcar City
2nd - Rosquillos Festival of Liloan
3rd - Panumod Festival of Barili
4th - Sarok Festival of Consolacion
5th - Panagbagat Festival of Poro
FESTIVAL QUEEN WINNERS:
Winner - Kabkaban Festival of Carcar
1st RU - Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu of Lapu-Lapu
2nd RU - Sugat Kabanhawan Festival of Minglanilla
3rd RU - La Torta Festival of Argao
4th RU - Rosquillos Festival of Liloan
Best in Festival Costume - Isda Festival of Madridejos
Best in Festival Queen Costume - Sinulog sa Carmen of Carmen
Miss Photogenic - Panagbagat Festival of Poro
Best in Carroza - Palawod Festival of Bantayan
Best Festival Jingle - Sarok Festival of Consolacion
BEST MAYOR'S INTRODUCTION VIDEO:
1st - Isda Festival of Madridejos
2nd - Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu of Lapu-Lapu City
3rd - Tostado Festival of Santander
4th - Dagayday Festival of Samboan
5th - Que'Alegre Festival of Alegria
BEST IN AUDIO VAN/FLOAT:
1st - Sarok Festival of Consolacion
2nd - Panagsogod Festival of Sogod
3rd - Sinulog sa Carmen of Carmen
4th - Palawod Festival of Bantayan
5th - Lingaw Sadya Festival of Balamban
Congratulations to all the winners!
Which Municipality/City are you from? Comment it down.
That's all for today's blog. Thank you for reading and until the next one.
Photos of street dancing and ritual showdown are grabbed from City Government of Bogo Facebook Page, Jude Thaddeus Aragon Facebook Page, Mayel Martinez (Bogo's Vice Mayor) Facebook Page, and Kathryn Nepomuceno's (Bogo's Festival Queen) Facebook.
With so much love - XOXO,
Bev 😘