THE local government unit of Minglanilla will once again celebrate the Sugat-Kabanhawan Festival to portray the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023.

Minglanilla Mayor Rajiv Enad announced this in a media interview recently.

“We will, of course, celebrate the Sugat-Kabanhawan sa pagkabanhaw sa atong Ginoo (on the resurrection of our Lord), which is the yearly tradition ever since I could remember. We will not shy away from celebrating and we will match it with our yearly tradition of the Kabanhawan Festival as well, you know, the dancing,” Enad said.

The activity was suspended for two years due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

The celebration resumed last year, but the town imposed a limit on the number of attendees to avoid congestion, allowing only those who had secured the tickets issued by the Municipality to witness the event.

Enad said, though, that this year’s celebration won’t be as extravagant as in the pre-pandemic period.

To him, what is important is for Minglanillahanons to remember the Feast of the Holy Resurrection.

The traditional “sugat” or the meeting of the risen Christ with the Blessed Virgin Mary signals the start of the new liturgical calendar.

The Minglanilla Sugat is a yearly spectacle of “little angels” (played by children) descending from the sky held at dawn of Easter Sunday.

Sugat, the religious activity mainly based on the biblical narration of Jesus’s resurrection, in later years became attached to the cultural “Kabanhawan Festival,” thus “Sugat-Kabanhawan Festival.” (BBT, TPT, CTL)