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| PASAKA
FESTIVAL SHOWCASES TOWN'S
CULTURE AND
HERITAGE |
Tanauan,
Leyte -- The Pasaka Festival 2008 which
started August 1 and will culminate today in a
grand street dancing and colorful presentations,
is seen as another opportunity to showcase the
rich cultural heritage of Tanauan, Leyte, where
Tinikling, the national dance of the Philippines,
is known to have originated.
The Pasaka Festival which will start at 1:00 o'clock
in the afternoon will start with the ritual presentations
at the Tanauan Amphitheater followed by a festive
mardi gras around the town's main thoroughfares,
and will end at the amphitheater where the winners
of the various categories will be announced. |
Before the announcement of the winners, the
Religious Procession in honor of the town Patroness
will also end at the Amphitheater where the
Salve will be sung. After the Salve there will
be a grand fireworks from Manila, sponsored
by Pepsi Cola Regional Plant located in Tanauan.
This year, Mayor Roque Tiu enthused, the Pasaka
Festival hopes to get more national exposure
because besides the local media, the NBN Channel's
Lakbayin ang Magandang Pilipinas television
program crew has arrived to document the festivities.
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Senator
Jinggoy Estrada is expected to grace the Pasaka
Festival which has also caught the interest
of many balikbayans, foreign tourists including
the Legal Officer of Queen Elizabeth who is
gracing the Festival for the second consecutive
year today, other cultural enthusiasts and visitors.
Mayor Tiu said that it is during the nightly
activities which started August 1 when the various
sectors of the municipality are able to show
their unity in paying homage and thanksgiving
to the town's Patroness, Our Lady of the Assumption.
What a better way of saying Thank You for all
the blessings that the town and its people has
received the whole year round and all through
these years, than contributing one's best talent,"
Mayor Tiu stressed.
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Showcasing the best talents
and the culture and tradition of the municipality,
will also ensure that the younger generations
are given the chance to know the culture and
tradition of their forefathers.
"It is only by knowing, that the younger
generation will learn to love and to be proud
of their roots and their cultural heritage,"
Mayor Tiu added.
Nightly cultural presentations from August 1
to 14 will feature the talents in the various
schools, the local government unit and the non-government
organizations in Tanauan.
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In the afternoon of August
14, the Pasaka Festival, a colorful presentation
of dance drama and street-dancing which depicts
a community paying homage to the Blessed Virgin
as she is assumed into heaven, will be staged
for the 16th year.
The Pasaka Festival competition is grouped into
two categories, the Pasaka Tribes category participated
in by high school students and elementary pupils;
and the Merry Makers from the various sectors
of the community.
August 15 which has been
proclaimed as Tanauan Day and at the same time
the feast of the town's patroness, is focused
on the religious rites, thus, the cultural presentations
are scheduled only up to August 14, Mayor Tiu
informed. (PIA 8) |
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