A. Paulita Roa SINCE the first town fiesta was celebrated in 1649, there followed many colorful, lively and memorable fiesta through the centuries especially during the Spanish colonial period which I have written several times in this column. The writer whose nom de plume is Kagay-anon waxed nostalgic about those grand fiesta celebrations over a century ago and said that after the “kagubot” or the revolution, the fiesta celebrations lost much of its luster and fun. and that it was never the same since then. However, what I find most interesting was how the townspeople participated and added gaiety to the fiesta. This was described by the writer in a long article  titled, “San Agustin, Patron Ning Kagay-an” that was written in Bisayan and prominently featured in Cagayan’s oldest weekly, Ang Katarungan (August,1948 issue): “Ang katilingban usab karaghanan managmaskara sukad sa kaunahan hangtud sa maggabii na sa kaadlawanan,managsuroy-suroy sa atong mga kadalanan managpagula sa ilang mga hiwasa ug mga tistis nga kahilimut-an.” I loosely translated this to English as thus: “Most of the townspeople wore masks from the start of the festivities up to the night of the feast itself. They went around the streets sharing interesting tales and witticisms.” On the Sept. 6, 1890 article about the Cagayan de Misamis fiesta celebration from El Boletin de Cebu, it mentioned that “masked people roamed here and there dispersing merriment even to those who had no humor for it.” It clearly showed that the Kagy-anons were already known for their sense of fun and humor. That come fiesta season, it was not all about the music, “moro-moros” and novena to San Agustin but laughter - loads of it and not from hired comedians but from the people themselves. I think that this was a time honored custom and perhaps, months before the fiesta, Kagay-anons prepared their tales, jokes and perhaps riddles that they feel would elicit laughter and add to the jovial atmosphere of the festivity. Then, the people would be treated with a spectacular display of the fuegos artificiales or fireworks for several nights courtesy of several local sponsors. In that year, a 30-meter replica of the Eiffel Tower was built in the middle of the plaza. It was made of bamboo, rattan and bonga leaves and lighted in the evening. This was faithfully copied  from an engraving of this tower that reached Cagayan probably during the time when the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated and served as the entrance arch of the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris. It goes to show that Kagay-anons were not behind when it came to important international events. The celebration of the fiesta went on till the 31st of August, the feast of Our Lady of Correa, patroness of the bullfighters. Days before this feast day, the bull ring was built , three bullocks were readied and a band of armed men (cuadrilla) was organized. the capes, costumes large hats, elaborate badges on the bulls’ necks, the bullfighters’ goads and small darts to bait the bulls and many other things were all prepared. Cagayan de Misamis being a very Hispanized town, would stage this at the pleasure of the military governor and his group of Spanish officials, who I think were frustrated matadors.According to the late historian Dr. Blas Ch. Velez, it was not a Spaniard but a local boy named Bernardino Daang who was considered the best matador in town. When the Americans came, they introduced to us the holding of sports competitions, carnivals and the fiesta beauty queen. Gone were the musical bands, the masked revelers and the matadors. During the dark days of  World War II, groups of Kagay-anons would still celebrate the fiesta way up on the hills and other places far from their beloved hometown. They held bailes or dances or staged a popular operetta by composer and dramatist, Fabian Abellanosa Today, we have the  street dancing festival, the Miss Cagayan de Oro beauty contest and civic military parade among a long list of activities. Our fiesta activities keep evolving and has no marked tradition that we can call our own save for the religious novena and procession around the streets of the city. But  sige na lang for every August, we always celebrate the feast day of San Agustin, patron ning Kagay-an!