Binatbatan Festival of the Arts: A tapestry of culture and arts woven by a miracle

 


A tapestry of culture and arts woven by a miracle that saved the residents in 1882

   Return to the origins of the event and learn about the miracle that saved the residents in December 1882. According to Damaso King, a well-known Vigan historian, the Viva Vigan Binatbatan Festival of the Arts, which takes place from the final week of April to the first week of May, was originally the Feast of the Natives, which began on May 3, 1883. The event began in 1882, when an illness killed 934 residents in a month. The outbreak began on November 12 and terminated on December 15. This occurred 30 years after a chapel was built in Vigan's graveyard in 1852.

The large number of deaths in such a short period disturbed the naturales, or indigenous people, and mestizos, or Spanish-speaking locals, who urged Dr. Evaristo Abaya, the parish priest, to request a visit to Vigan of the Santo Cristo Milagroso of Sinait town. The people celebrated the Santo Milagroso with a nine-day novena. The number of deaths dropped throughout the course of the novena, and the pandemic ended on the final day. People praised God for the miracle. Almost all residents attended the Holy Mass in honor of Santo Cristo. In gratitude, the naturales of Vigan chose the third day of May as thanksgiving day for Santo Cristo whom they call Apo Lakay. This is the feast day of the Holy Cross and the Santo Cristo of Sinait town.



People have been gathering to the cemetery chapel named Simbaan a Bassit to hear Holy Mass and continue their devotion to Apo Lakay on Fridays and the third day of May since then. Viva Vigan Festival is the result of a reunion of Metro Manila people who created a group named KaiVigan in 1993, according to Antonio Florentino, a descendent of Leona Florentino, the country's first poetess, when he was still the mayor's secretary in the early years of the festival. Every year for two to three days, they celebrated Tres de Mayo. The longer they stayed in their hometown, the more they pushed it as a fun tourist destination. When Eva Marie S. Medina was elected mayor of Vigan in 1995, she maintained the group's promotion campaign, and the Viva Vigan Festival of the Arts was formed. However, the Binatbatan festival was established in 2002 to honor one of the enterprises that kept locals alive — abel Iloco hand-loom weaving. Binatbatan is the beating of cotton pods to extract the seeds. This is exemplified by the Binatbatan street dancing and showdown. This is the city's third festival this year; the first is the Vigan Cityhood anniversary on Jan. 22, followed by the Vigan City fiesta on Jan. 25 in honor of the city's patron saint, Saint Paul the Apostle.




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