Carcar to mark “Kabkaban fest” on November 24

CEBU, Philippines - This year’s Kabkaban Festival will depict the life of Cebuano saint Pedro Calungsod. 

“Kabkaban” is a ritual dance that is believed to drive away bad spirits when performed.

Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura said the festival, which will be celebrated on November 24, will focus on the life of Calungsod, a teenage Catholic missionary who died a martyr in Guam more than three centuries ago. 

Calungsod was a teenage native of the Visayas region who joined Spanish Jesuit missionaries, led by Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, to a voyage to evangelize natives of the Mariana Islands in 1668.

This annual activity is one of the highlights of Carcar’s fiesta in honor of its patroness, St. Catherine of Alexandria.

Carcar is known for its shoes. Bolo-making and basket-weaving, wooden furniture-manufacturing, and antique reproduction are also some of the prevalent cottage industries among Carcar residents.

Eight contingents that will compete for prizes come from the Roberto E. Sato Memorial National High School, Perrelos National High School, Ocaña National High School, Maximo Noel Memorial National High School, Liburon National High School, Carcar Central National High School, and Valencia Vocational National High School. 

To attend the celebration are Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Representatives Pablo John Garcia and Eduardo Gullas, congressional aspirant Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas, and former Danao City mayor Ramon Durano IV. – (FREEMAN)