Tuesday, July 10, 2007 Camiguin's San Juan sa Hibok-Hibok Festival By Rubelyn Yap
ONE of the most celebrated feasts in the Catholic faith is of St. John the Baptist, where most believers, after attending the Holy Mass, would go directly to the beach or to any areas where they can bathe `til they get tired.
Most of the towns whose feast fall on the said date would celebrate it, with waters sprinkled over the streets, kids and adults alike would make fun by sprinkling passersby until they get wet and other water activities.
But the province of Camiguin has a different way of celebrating the said feast for more than four decades now, they dubbed it as the San Juan Hibok-Hibokan Festival which has evolve into one of the most watched festival in the island-province after Lanzones Festival.
The History
According to Department of Tourism-10 regional director Catalino "Butch" Chan III, the festival is just a simple activity his father Retired Judge Ceferino Chan, Sr. of the Mambajao Community Rural Bank started in the early 60's together with then lawyer Pedro Romualdo Jr. and other prominent figures in the Cursillo organization in the province's capital - Mambajao.
To them it is a mortal sin not to take a bath on St. John's Day, so what the old folks do after the Holy Mass is they make a fluvial procession to White Island and they would select beautiful ladies swimming along the beach and after the procession they would have games along the shore.
Present Day
After seeing the success, the provincial government decided to make it an annual activity where all Camiguinons can participate and then local tourists started joining the affair.
Former governor and now Congressman Pedro Romualdo hopes that the festival would be bigger as time goes by where foreign tourists would anticipate just like their famous Lanzones Festival.
Today, the festival is celebrated in the Cabua-an Beach Resort of the Neri family in Mambajao who has been opening their resort to the public for free on that day and competition like best boat design, swimming contest, boat race, volleyball and tug-of-war were held with the different agencies in the island joining it.
And to cap the whole day activity is the Miss Hibok-Hibokan Festival, the only beauty pageant I have seen in my whole life where candidates has no make-up and was selected on how they carry themselves in the stage. How I wish all beauty pageants will be like this.
The festival is so simple without the grandeurs of marketing collaterals but it is one of a kind festival where people in Camiguin unites to celebrate St. John the Baptist day. Kudos!
