Try a little sidetrip

As has been the practice of my family around this time (the Holy Week holidays), we repair to the island province of Leyte, to the hometown of my wife, a town called Carigara which is unique in many ways than I can fully count.

For one, I have never seen a town in all my travels in the Philippines where the affinity for America is very strong. In Carigara, almost every family has at least a relative working or residing in the United States.

So numerous are the Kalgaran-ons (that’s how the people of Carigara are known) in America that all over the United States several fiestas are celebrated by those who cannot come home for the annual festivity on July 16.

Those on the West Coast of the United States, for example, decide on which city to hold the celebration. Those on the East Coast do the same. Year after year. Those who have the time and the money to really come home, do so every July.

But the fiesta of Carigara is often eclipsed by yet another celebration — the grand annual alumni homecoming of the Holy Cross College, which is another unique thing on my list of what makes this town stand out.

Most alumni homecomings I know are celebrated by individual classes. But here every class participates in this one grand alumni homecoming every year, with each year’s edition organized and hosted by whoever class is celebrating its 25th year.

The celebration runs for three days, beginning on Easter Sunday, which has Holy Mass at the Holy Cross Church and a parade in the afternoon. Different activities and a dance follows on Monday, and a beach party closes the activity on Tuesday.

The parade is unique in that each year hews to a theme. This year, the theme revolves around the different Philippine festivals. Drawing by lots, each class performs in the parade the festival it has drawn — Sinulog, Masskara, Ati-Atihan, Pintados, etc.

I say the alumni homecoming eclipses the fiesta because almost everybody here is a graduate of the Holy Cross College (previously Holy Cross Academy) and the lure of contests and reunions is much stronger than the purely religious draw of the fiesta.

So, while many Kalgaran-ons who are abroad prefer to celebrate their fiestas overseas, there is a greater compelling reason to come home for the reunion. So during this time, it is very common to see mixed-race families all over the town.

Other unique thing in Carigara is the Turugpo, which happens every Black Saturday in the foothills of the town, in a barangay called Camansi. There, male carabao are made to fight with their horns.

It is a rather cruel sport really, with each ramming of the heads defined by a sickening crack of the skulls. The fights seldom last long, as one or the other carabao often gives up the fight after the first head-banging.

I don’t know why the sport, cruel as it is, has gained official recognition by the authorities in Leyte. But then again, there it is, its uniqueness having made it a sort of tourist attraction in these parts.

One of my favorite unique things about Carigara is its sunset, which I have written quite often about. When the weather permits (it rains 21 days in Leyte, it is said), the sunset over Carigara Bay can shame those of Bali and Manila Bay.

In both Bali and Manila Bay, the sun sets into the sea. Not so in Carigara. It sets into the mountains on the left rim of Carigara Bay, in so doing casting a myriad of colors up into the sky and reflecting them back on the waters of the bay.

Those who have the chance and would like to try a little sidetrip off the beaten tracks, try a few days in Carigara, especially around Holy Week. Without much expectation and with a lot of open mindedness, it might be truly worth your precious while to do so.