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The
"Heritage City," as Vigan is known, bursts into merry colors
through its Binatbatan Festival, luring hordes of local and
foreign tourists to its streets lined up with ancestral
houses.
The festival
got its name from the Iluko term batbatin, or separating
cotton balls from the seeds of the local fruit tree kapas
sanglay.
The cotton
balls are then spun and used in weaving the abel, which
Chinese merchants then residing in Ciudad Fernandina, the
Vigan of old, exported and which was among the local products
shipped during the galleon trade from the 15th to the 18th
century.
No wonder,
abel products were showcased during the festival. And Vigan
Mayor Eva Singson-Medina is all agog in promoting them.
She said
they want to bring back the traditional Iluko hand-weaving,
and churn out not just the abel cloth but products made from
it.
Other
festival events included calesa and Ramada décor contests,
and, of course, a showcase of Vigan’s delicacies like the
royal bibingka, longganisa and empanada.
A local
pastry called masa podrida, which dates back to the early
1960s, "re-appeared" during the festival. It is said to be the
favorite of action star Fernando Poe Jr., a frequent Vigan
visitor.
Reference:
Text and Photo credits
Reported by Sol Jose Vanzi
http://www.newsflash.org/2003/05/tl/tl012039.htm
PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE WEBSITE
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