Tangub City’s Dalit Festival: An offering of sorts

TANGUB CITY, Misamis Occidental -- Residents here took pride in celebrating the Dalit Festival in honor of St. Michael the Archangel last Saturday.

The month-long city fiesta celebration was highlighted with a street parade and the search for a Festival Queen.

Dalit Festival derived its name from a Visayan word “Dalit” which means “to offer” and depicts the various activities of the people of Tangub in offering a thanksgiving of sorts to the Almighty for the blessings they received during the previous year and to ask for more in the coming year.

These blessings may take in the form of success in planting, bountiful harvest, a hunting expedition, a wedding, birth of a child, settling of a family feud, a peace compact and healing of the sick, among others.

Composed of a street dancing and a ritual, the festival makes use of the three basic Dalit steps of prayer, praise and grace and live music of the Dalit rhythm provided to the festival contingents by the organizers.

“It is a free interpretation of any culture, ethic or non-ethnic, of a Filipino way of life focusing on thanksgiving and offering to God, the Almighty through the intercession of St. Michael, the Archangel,” said Mayor Philip T. Tan.

Tan said to make the celebration more lively, the city government has opened the festival participation to its 55 barangays, which has clustered themselves into 11 contingents. (PIA)