December is Fiesta Month in Pangasinan!

A travel journal that will give you a pleasant view of people, places, food, culture, history and events from a refreshing perspective

By @SiRVis

 

ASIDE from the Christmas season, December is fiesta month in Pangasinan! Several towns and cities in Pangasinan celebrate their fiestas and festivals during December. Here are the towns and cities and their respective feasts and festivals: Urdaneta City Fiesta (Feast of Immaculate Conception), Bani Town Fiesta (Feast of Immaculate Conception), Sta. Barbara Town Fiesta (Feast of St. Barbara), Dagupan City Fiesta (Feast of St. John Evangelist), and Calasiao’s Puto Festival.

Fiestas are a part of Filipino culture. It usually occurs during the feast of the town/ city’s patron saint, to commemorate local history and culture, to promote the locality’s products, or to celebrate a bountiful harvest.

Urdaneta City started their city fiesta with the lighting ceremony of belen and parol display at the Old City Hall. Sports and music competitions, pageants, civic night celebrations and thanksgiving mass complete the festivities.

Bani, which has the same patron saint (Our Lady of Immaculate Conception) as Urdaneta City, began their town fiesta with an Elementary Day parade in the morning and a lantern parade in the evening capped by the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Poblacion intersection. They also had a Mountain Bike X-Country Race and several civic night celebrations.

Sta. Barbara Town Fiesta commenced with a Gabi ng Pasasalamat followed by a Thanksgiving mass, civic parade, drum and lyre exhibition, invitational dance contest, civic nights and a gay pageant.

Dagupan City Fiesta kicked off with a grand opening parade and drum and lyre competition which was participated by neighboring towns (the winners were: Daniel Maramba National High School Drum and Lyre Corps – Champion; San Nicolas National High School – 1st runner up; and Lobong National High School – 2nd runner up) and culminated with the lighting of the Christmas tree in front of the City Plaza, singing of carols by the 2017 NAMCYA Chorale champion Balon Dagupan Children’s Choir and fireworks display. The city fiesta is a month-long celebration replete with fun-filled arts, cultural, sports, civic and religious events. Must see is the Paseo de Belen (Dagupan’s version of Christmas village) which features more than 20 Nativity scenes (belen) made by the different barangays, barangay clusters, Dagupan National High School and Dagupan Electric Corporation and others.

Calasiao’s yearly celebration of Puto festival aims to promote the town’s “White Gold” – the famous Calasiao Puto! This year’s highlight is the town’s attempt for a record breaking Guinness World Record title for the Largest Puto Rice Cake Mosaic in the world.

But the biggest fiesta is of course Christmas. Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.

It’s really Fun in Pangasinan! #FUNgasinan

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