Halad sa Lambagohan : A Thanksgiving for Cagayan River

After years of drawing a line between the spiritual and the material, the church, the local government and civic society have finally agreed to put St. Augustine back as the center of the Kagay-an Festival, Cagayan de Oro´s fiesta festival.

The convergence will be evident when the new Halad sa Lambagohan will the unveiled on August 27, a day before its previous incarnation.

The new date was arrived at after the officials of Promote CDO Foundation, Inc. which manages the Kagay-an Festival, met with Msgr. Columbus Villamil, parish priest of the City Parish based at the St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral, traditionally the center of the town fiesta since it is dedicated to its patron saint, St. Augustine of Hippo.

"Previous editions of the Lambagohan Festival were labeled as a fluvial festival though there was never a clear-cut definition of what the term meant exactly," said Eileen San Juan, chairperson of the 2009 Kagay-an Festival. "As a result, the theme of the river festival tended to follow last year´s winner and the decors and costumes of the contestants were fast gravitating away from the riverine theme.

"For two successive years, the noise and activity of the fluvial festival disturbed the fiesta procession and masses since it was held during the early hours of August 28th, the feast day of San Agustin," Msgr. Villamil recalls.

To make the festival more relevant, Promote CDO and the St. Augustine Parish agreed to move it to the evening of August 27, during the eve of the Feast of St. Augustine, or what is traditionally known as visperas, or vespers.

"In fact, the visperas of the city fiesta is the feast day of Sta. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine," Msgr. Villamil noted.

"In lieu of a competition, we shall only have a quiet tribute to the people from the past and present who contributed to the progress and growth of the city," San Juan said.

The Halad starts at 5PM with a mass to be officiated by Msgr. Villamil at the Rodelsa Circle of the Kagay-an Bridge. The mass will be followed by fireworks after which the images of San Agustin and Sta. Monica would be loaded aboard a fluvial procession down the river back to the St. Augustine cathedral. The highlight of the ceremony will be the lighting and floating of 1,000 paper lanterns with candles down river in memory of the people who perished in the January flashfloods and other past disasters.

Students from the city´s schools, government and private organizations and riverside communities which were adversely affected by the devastating weekend floods of January 2009 are invited to participate in the making and floating of these lanterns as a thanksgiving for the gifts the river has brought over the years.

The original name of the Cagayan river is Kalambaguhan River, named because of the presence of "Lambago" trees (Hibiscus tiliaceus, a member of the Malvaceae tree family that only thrives in low altitude areas like seashores, riverbanks and other areas reached by tidal streams) along the river banks. With the coming of the Spaniards, they changed the river´s name to Cagayan.

Historical documents prove Kagay-an was used to refer to present-day Cagayan de Oro as early as 1571 (Fray San Francisco de San Antonio, 1738-1744 & de Loarca). It is found in the Olaging (chanted) epics of the Proto Northern Manobo (Cagayan de Oro´s proto people) describing Yumagmag Katiguman, wife of the hero´s elder brother Paumulaw as 'Queen of Kagay-an, Queen of Lambagohon´ (Opeña, 1979).

Lambagohan is a joint project of the Department of Tourism – Region X, Safer River Life Saver Foundation, Oro Association of Rafters (OARs) and the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation.

The new Halad sa Lambagohan was launched recently as part of the expanded Kagayan Festival which now also include the following core events: Kumbira 2009, a culinary show and live competitions to be held at the Limketkai Atrium from August 13 to 15; Serenata at the Park" at Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria on August 28; Kahimunan Regional Trade Fair 2009", a wide array of locally-made products from the region based on the "One-Town, One-Product" (OTOP) concept at the Limketkai Center Rotunda from August 20 to August 28; National Horseshow and Competition, a 3-day event showcasing equestrian events and horseback games at the Mountain Meadows, Fil-Estate Grounds in barangay Gusa from August 21 to 23. Kagayan Dance Festival, a street dancing competition showcasing Northern Mindanao indigenous people´s dances on August 24; Ms. Kagay-an 2009, a beauty and talent search of the city´s finest, gorgeous and witty Kagay-anon ladies vying for the title as Cagayan de Oro City´s Ambassadress of Goodwill and Tourism on August 25; Kagay-an 3rd Golden Float Parade", a float competition depicting the city´s growth and development, history, people, culture and event on August 26.

All Kagay-an Festival 2009 activities are exclusively coordinated by Promote CdeO Foundation, Inc. after it was granted by the city government an exclusive right to manage the city fiesta events starting August 2007.