Celebrating San Juan Festival in Liloy
LIKE many Filipino fiestas, the San Juan Festival or Wattah Wattah Festival, celebrated by San Juan City on every June 24, is deeply connected with faith and religion.
The Festival celebrates the Feast of St John, the Baptist, who baptised Jesus Christ. To re-create this act of St John, San Juan residents take part in basaan ¡V splashing passers-by with water.
All towns and suburbs named San Juan (St John the Baptist) celebrate this festival which involves symbolic baptisms with ylang-ylang scented water and sometimes, a free-for-all water fight with much drenching and laughter. The Borneo Post travelled to the Poruk San Juan (San Juan Village) to witness the celebration and capture scenes of the San Juan fiesta.
In the Philippines, June 24 is celebrated with dousing and sprinkling of water ¡V and family outings to the beach or riverside.
For the Filipino community in Poruk San Juan (San Juan Village), Liloy, Dipolog City, Zamboanga Del Norte, the festival started with prayers at the Chapel at about 7am.
After mass, worshippers brought the statue of San Juan to the seafront where villagers assembled in pump-boats and other river vessels for the float parade.
The statue of San Juan was then placed on the bow of one of the leading boats, accompanied by other river crafts, for the journey from Poruk San Juan to Timan beach, then to Lamao beach, passing by Baybay beach and back to Poruk San Juan.
According to Gil B Asentista, a resident of Baybay in Liloy, the journey would take about an hour. Along the way, some of the participants could seen exchanging balloon bombs or 'water bombs' wrapped in plastic amidst plenty of laughter.
Other side activities included boat decoration contest and pam boat race, drawing not only locals but also nearby villagers.
After the parade, the villagers would bring their families to the beach for picnics.
The festival, held annually at the San Juan Village, is a holiday for Liloy.
A bigger Festival -- Araw Ng LIloy -- is held in every August in Liloy, starting with a city parade, involving government departments, schools and the villages.
Tourists wishing to see the local cultures and the beautiful city parade costumes can take a oneand-half hour flight from Manila to Dipolog City and from there, another three-hour road trip to Liloy.
Liloy has its own municipality under the friendly and approachable mayor Dodong Bolando. The province has progressed rapidly under his mayorship.
Apart from the Municipal Council building in Liloy, there are also elementary and secondary schools, a port, a police station, a fire department, government offices and a bus terminus for the villagers.