Leganes, Iloilo
celebrates their festival on the 25th January well connected to their Patron
Saint and His believers with the immense passion, big enthusiasm and fun filled
activities. The whole community becomes involve in the celebration, marking the
birth of their beloved religious icon, St. Vincent Ferrer.
His feast day holds lots
of religious importance for the Christians and is celebrated with great
fervour. The entire community do feasts, prayers and processions while
observing His festivity.
Saad, a Hiligaynon word
for a “solemn vow,” where the faithful congregate during the festivity’s Mass
is an attraction. Devotees are from far south and far north of the province.
There are also believers coming in from other neighboring provinces.
Devotees flood to the
church to offer their prayers to ask God that San Vicente will help them in
their problems. After the Mass, the faithful would then undergo the Palapak, a
ritual where devotees would line up while a small statue of the image of the
saint is pressed on their heads or on the part of the body needing help
believing that a spiritual cure will happen. Those who entrusted their faith
through the saint are hopeful that what they have asked for, mostly to be
healed from their illnesses will be granted. This had been a cultural religious
practice since then.
Leganesnons express their
devotion to St. Vincent Ferrer through music and dance with the
much-anticipated competition on January 25 at 5p.m. They use the Saad
Dance-Drama presentation to represent their beliefs in honouring the “Angel of
Healing,” St. Vincent Ferrer because of his gift to cure the sick.
Saad dance combines
rectilinear and circular movements that may also include hopping, jumping, and
hand movements. Hand movements are widely used in many liturgical actions of
the dance such as the touching of holy objects and their accompanying prayers
and blessings. The raising of hands in
prayer, kneeling as an expression of humility, and the bow as an intimated
genuflection generally indicates respect. The gesture of blessing may imitate a
symbolic form, such as that of the Holy Cross.
Symbolism plays a big
role in the dance presentation, and Leganesnons chose to reflect that symbolism
through their various dance routines and presentations. The Palapak is also
re-enacted into the dance choreography.
Much of the music has a
definite local flavour using a medley of old Hiligaynon favourites where
dancers in traditional Filipino costumes and wearing scapulars dance with joy to praise their
patron and ends with shouts of "San Vicente Ferrer, Igampo Mo Kami!"
Leganes is a Fourth Class
municipality in the Second Congressional District of the province. It borders
the city of Iloilo in the south; Pavia in the southeast; Santa Barbara in the
west and, Zarraga in the north. Approximately 11 kilometers or a 30-minute
drive north from the city, it is politically sub-divided into 18 coastal and
agricultural barangays over a land area of 3, 216 hectares.
To get to Leganes,
visitors can take a jeepney at Jaro Plaza. For more information, please contact
Jerry Anas – Municipal Tourism Officer or email at (033) 3296622 local 114 or
email at lgu_leganes@yahoo.com.ph/ anas.jerry@yahoo.com.ph
No comments:
Post a Comment