Sinukwan Festival to engage Kapampangan youth

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— The Foundation for Lingap Kapampangan Inc. (FLKI) and Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) on Monday launched the Sinukwan Festival aimed at promoting Kapampangan culture, music, and heritage.

Now on its 20th year, the festival backed annually by FLKI will run from November 25 to December 2.

FLKI Chairman Rolando Rodriguez noted that this year’s theme “Kaduampulung banua pasalamatan, Kulturang Kap am p an gan pakaingatan,” encapsulates the mission of the festival to preserve Kapampangan culture and identity through the years.

“We are facing many challenges today, one of which is the fact that dumarami ang mga taga-Pampanga na hindi Kapampangan. And that is one reason why we need to strive hard to preserve our culture. So that our next generation will still know the essence of our true Kapampangan traits and traditions,” he said.

FLKI President Teresa Laus, for her part, highlighted that it is essential to revive the youth’s interest in the province’s rich cultural heritage, through meaningful and relevant events like the Sinukwan.

“For this year’s Sinukwan Festival, we are aiming to enlighten our youth of who we are as a people. We are encouraging the Kapampangan millennials to immerse themselves in our culture, as they will be the Sinukwan torch bearers of the future,” Laus said.

She added that this year’s week-long festivities are made more extravagant than ever.

“We really prepared for the 20th year of Sinukwan Festival. We are anticipating a bigger, better, and grander celebration this year as we mark two decades of Kapampangan resiliency,” she relayed.

It can be noted that the Sinukwan Festival was launched twenty years ago to lift the morale and spirit of residents affected by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

Activities and programs lined up for this year include food and crafts fair, on-the-spot photo contest, Gayak at Piblas Fashion Show, Lakan at Lambini ng Sinukwan, MusiKapampangan, drum and lyre competition, Kapampangan Folksongs Workshop, Kapampangan HipHop Competition, interpretative and street dance competition, and a fireworks display at Robinsons Starmills on December 2 to culminate the event.

Robinsons Land Corporation Regional Operations Manager Jodee Paulette Arroyo shared that sponsoring Sinukwan Festival is part of the company’s thrust to promote local festivities in the province.

“We have been supporting the Sinukwan Festival for 12 years now. We aim to continue to support it in the years to come as we are an advocate of preservation of Kapampangan culture and heritage. Robinsons Land Corporation is always one with this event,” she said.