PORAC -- Porac Aeta communities will take the center stage during the celebration of the 10th Binulu Festival here on November 16.
Mayor Carling De La Cruz who, along with Vice-Mayor Dexter David and his sister, former Pampanga Board Member Olga Frances “Fritzie” David-Dizon, will lead the festival which is a part of the commemoration of the 424th founding anniversary of this town.
Binulu cooking will also be the highlight of the event.
Binulu dishes include the cooking of meat and other foodstuffs using a variety of bamboo called "bulu."
The basic binulu dish is a concoction of chicken soup cooked with vegetables and made sour with tamarind and local sour herbs occasionally seasoned with salt. Rice is also cooked with bulu.
The young slender stalks of bulu are cut into even sizes. Rice and water are then placed inside the empty reeds and then placed over fire just enough to heat up the contents.
David said the Binulu Festival is now a yearly event that attracts tourists and locals alike.
The Binulu Festival was first organized as a festival in 2005 by then Porac parish priest Fr. Elmer Simbulan as part of the annual fiesta celebration in honor of the town patron Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
The event was initially conceptualized with the help of Fr. Resty Lumanlan, Prudencio Garcia, Tess David and Adrian Garcia, among others.