The Pintos Festival of Bogo City
Cebuanos love to celebrate. It can be seen in the number of festivals there are in the province. Every town has one.
For the month of May, a most awaited festival is that of Bogo City towards the island’s northern tip. Known as the “Pintos Festival,” it is a celebration of the popular delicacy of the place. Bogo City has always drawn visitors because of its “pintos,” ground young corn mixed with milk and sugar, wrapped in individual corn sheath and then cooked.
Bogo City has vast areas planted to both corn and sugarcane. It’s no wonder, therefore, that the townsfolk had thought up a treat based on the two ingredients abundant in their place. The milk as “pintos” ingredient may have been a new alternative to coconut milk, as the former town is also abundant in coconuts.
It looks like the “pintos” embodies the main crops of Bogo City. This is perhaps the reason why it is the best one to characterize the city’s annual festival. The choreography of the street dancing – which is the main highlight of the festival – feature the “pugas” or planting and “sanggi” or harvest, the two activities that make a cycle in an agricultural community like Bogo.
The “Pintos Festival” is touted to be a thanksgiving for abundant harvest. It has reportedly evolved from an older celebration called “Kuyayang,” in which talented Bogohanons would showcase their talent in dancing.
The new celebration is part of the festivities leading to the fiesta of San Vicente Ferrer, Bogo City’s patron saint, on May
27. Other events include a beauty contest and racing competitions. The celebrations draw visitors to the city, as well as beckon home Bogohanons that have since settled in other places of the country and abroad.
It takes about three hours to reach Bogo by bus from the North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City. It’s easy to determine when one is already approaching Bogo. As soon as green vistas of endless sugarcane plantation begin to fill the surroundings, it means Bogo is just a few minutes away.