Festivals
| Mayohan sa Tayabas |
Mayohan sa Tayabas is a program of the city government that aims to facilitate the process of conscious recollection among community members. Through a 10-day celebration, from May 6-15, the Tayabanse is guided to honor the glory and bless the wounds and sacrifices of the past. Mayohan is a season for the Tayabanses to converge at the mother navel of Quezon province. Rural folk gather at the town proper; those who study and work in Manila and other places return home. They come to the center regardless of social status, religion or education, to attend family reunions, renew ties with friends and observe the thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings of mother earth. Hagisan ng suman The farmer is a being of faith who knows that physical prowess is not enough to harvest the fruits of his labor. Hence, he seeks guidance from the spirit of bounty symbolized by San Isidro de Labrador. On May 15, Mayohan gives tribute to San Isidro with a procession reminiscent of the yearly Quiapo devotion to Jesus Nazareno. From many towns of Quezon, multitudes of peasants and workers--predominantly male--flock to Tayabas. They clamor for suman and other pabitin as their sweat, strength and rivalry pervade the air. Impelled by their yearly panata or sacrificial devotion to San Isidro, they participate in hagisan ng suman, believing that the bounty gathered in their sacks heralds economic upliftment. It portends the amount of their next harvest or income for the year. Suman is the ritual gift of hagisan. It is cooked with great enthusiasm by Tayabenses because hagisan is an opportunity to share their prosperity. Bundles of suman are gaily tied in the pabitin made out of a special kind of bamboo called bagakay. As soon as the image of San Isidro passes by, the pabitin must be emptied of its abundance which, aside from suman, includes bananas, mangoes, buko, pineapple and other summer fruits. Incarnating a vision Mayohan sa Tayabas began in 1988 with writer and film director Orlando "Dandy" R. Nadres and then-Mayor Faustino "Dondi" A. Silang constructed the Mayohan as a vision for the social and cultural renewal of Tayabas. The sublime Spirit of the Mother was given flesh. The Tayabas municipal government institutionalized Mayohan to ensure that the initiative would meet its destiny. Second, the former tiangge was elevated to its next essential stage, allowing the progressive development of Mayohan to take its course. He enlisted the full involvement of all 66 barangays to install their own booths, showcase their agricultural produce and crafts, and highlight creative economies from the countryside. The tiangge was thus renamed kalinangan sa Mayohan. Third, ponsyunan was enlarged and made a regular feature of the summer festival. It was first launched in 1997 during the inaugural program of the restored Casa de Comunidad, originally built in 1831 as guesthouse for visiting Spanish dignitaries. |
