Kaplag Festival draws 1T crowd

CEBU, Philippines - The scorching heat of the sun did not stop the residents of Barangay San Nicolas Proper to show their vene-ration to the Child Jesus yesterday during the 7th Kaplag Buwad Festival.

At least 1,000 residents witnessed the street dancing in the afternoon, which was one of the highlights of the celebration.

Nine sitios participated in this year’s festival competing for the P30,000 top prize, P20,000 for the first runner up and P10,000 for the second runner up.

The sitios that competed for the festival were: Baud Miller, Santa Cruz, White Sand, Kalubihan, Taboanon, Acacia, Fegueroa, LDC, and Tinga-anon.

 Festival Queen Camille Abonitalla said the heat of the sun was not a hindrance to show her veneration to Senior Santo Niño.

 â€œGikulbaan ug excited akong gibati. Bahala’g init ug kapoy basta makahalad malipay na mi,” Abonitalla said.

Artistic director Allan Navarro said that; “The core of the celebration is the capture of Senior Santo Niño in San Nicolas and is related to buwad since this place is abundant of buwad or dried fish.”

Yesterday’s celebration started with a fluvial parade at 6 a.m. from SRP to Pasil Fish Port. A reenactment on the native Cebuanos warm welcome to Magellan and the latter’s giving of the image of the Santo Niño as gift.  (FREEMAN)