Kabkaban to focus on art and religion

The Kabkaban Festival in Carcar town on November 19 and 20 will not just be a cultural fanfare in honor of the town's patroness, St. Catherine of Alexandria, as it will also focus on the town's contributions to Philippine art and religion.

Val Sandiego, chairman of the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society Arts and Culture Committee, said part of the festival are the first ever Cebu silent art auction of the works of award-winning international artist Romulo Galicano and the honoring of the founders of two Carcar religious congregations of nuns.

Galicano will exhibit some of his other works, including his grand prize winning portrait of Mr. Eddie Chua at the International Portrait Competition in Washington D.C., on the day of the feast at St. Catherine College.

Galicano will also have a painting session during the auction for the benefit of the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society, Sandiego said.

The festival also includes the depiction by Cebu City's Sandiego Dance Company of the historical roots of some of Carcar's oldest and most prominent families during the 19th century.

Carcar's 15 barangays will also participate in the Kabkaban parade on November 20. Vice Mayor Rogelio Montesclaros said a parade of the 300 pairs of twins in the town will also be held during the opening of the novena of the patroness.

The festival is derived from Carcar's old name, Kabkab, a kind of fern that is still most prominently seen on the branches of sprawling rows of old acacia trees that line along the national highway in barangay Perrelos. - Garry B. Lao