It’s our 470th fiesta!

A. Paulita Roa .

THIS year, the city of Cagayan de Oro is celebrating its 470th fiesta. According to our local history, it was in 1649 that the people chose San Agustin as their patron saint and celebrated their fiesta that same year. The choice of San Agustin was in honor of their beloved Fray Agustin de San Pedro, the first parish priest of the new town of Cagaiang (Cagayan). He ws a Portuguese who studied military science and architecture in Spain. He then entered the priesthood under the Recollect Order of Discalced Agustinians who sent their missionaries to the Philippines for the first time in 1606. Fray Agustin followed over a decade later and was assigned in Butuan then he came to Cagaiang. He was by this time able to speak Binisaya fluently.

He was able to persuade Datu Salangsang to leave the Himolugan fortress where he and his 500 member families lived because it was situated on top of the cliff without any regular source of water and the river can only be accessed several meters below the steep cliff. Fray Agustin after exploring the territory, chose a river delta as the ideal place to build a reduccion or a Spanish style settlement. He designed and built for them a fortified settlement with a small church in the middle and it was by the Cagayan River. This historic transfer marked the founding of the present site of Cagayan de Oro notably, the whole area of Barangay 1.

THE SPANISH COLONIAL ERA:  The fiesta during the Spanish colonial period was celebrated for many days. The celebration reached its peak when Cagayan de Misamis became the capital town of Misamis Province. Then province was huge that it included the present provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon, Camiguin, and the cities of Iligan and Dapitan. The seat of government was in Casa Real (now the City Hall complex) and was headed by a Spanish military governor who also resided there with his family.

Days before the fiesta, big boats belonging to different towns in the province who sail to the capital town, with officials who brought their own brass bands. Upon entering the mouth of Cagayan River, the bands started to play and the boats were then anchored at the back of Casa Real as town officials paid their respects to the governor then proceeded to the nearby convent to visit the parish priest. This was the time when all the houses would be decorated and colorful wooden arches were erected on the streets.

In the evening during the fiesta week, “Moro-moro” a musicale that depicted the Spanish and Moor war was staged at the town plaza (Gaston Park) and the audience will be regaled by the singers that were accompanied by an orchestra, colorful costumes and a love story in between the escremas or swordfights. But the most popular especially among the young people was the night parade where all the participants wore masks. There were also masked horsemen carrying lanterns while majority walked behind the brass bands as they went around town laughing and making “tistis” (joking). Was there a love story that started at that time when two masked beings met under a wooden arch on a street of Cagayan de Misamis? Maayo unta kon naa!

It was the fiesta of 1890 that was considered very memorable that this was written by different newspapers in Cebu and other towns. The main attraction of the fiesta was a very tall replica of the Eiffel Tower that was erected in the middle of the plaza. It was made of bamboo and rattan and it was well lighted at nights. The new public market was inaugurated on that day and wine came out from a small fountain for all guests to enjoy. The governor and his wife gave a lavish ball in Casa Real that lasted till dawn. But the fiesta did not end on August 28th but it was extended because the governor, Lt. Col. Togores organized a bullfight in the plaza. Prominent families donated the shiny costumes of the matadores (bull fighters) and rancherias donated the bulls. According to historian and former city councilor, Dr. Blas Ch. Velez, the best matador at that time was a Kagay-anon, a Bernardo Daang who bested the young Spanish colonial officials in bull fighting.

AMERICAN COLONIAL ERA: Like in the Spanish colonial times, the fiesta officially started on Aug. 26 and the religious one was observed on Aug. 28 with a high mass and a procession. The fiesta celebration under the Americans was done in an entirely different way. It was at this time that the concept of the town beauty queen was introduced to Cagayan where the prettiest hometown girl was chosen and crowned as the fiesta queen for the year. But the crowning of Miss Cagayan as extant photos showed was on December 30 and not in the month of August . but she got to ride a float with a crown on her head during the annual fiesta parade. The earliest photo that I saw of Miss Cagayan was that of Amparo Chaves who was crowned in 1920. She was the daughter of Ramon Chaves, the founder of Cepalco and Rosario Roa Abejuela.

The town plaza by now was the scene of baseball games with all boys and all girls teams. The festivities were marked by sports competitions and the swimming contest was held on the river with the finish line at the back of the Municipio. By this time, Cagayan was also known as the Little Italy of the Philippines where almost every house in town had a piano or a violin. There were concerts in the plaza and where the works of known Kagay-anon composers like Manuel Velez and Fabian Abellanosa were played.

On Aug. 26, 1931, the first ever steel bridge that spanned the Poblacion to Carmen was inaugurated with much rejoicing by the Kagay-anon. Nine years later, on Aug. 26, 1940, the new concrete two-story Municipio de Cagayan was inaugurated. It was a formal but somber inaugural rites led by Mayor Roque Chaves and Vice Mayor Patricia Velez. A month before the inauguration, Mayor Julio Pacana died and he was credited as the one who worked for the building of the Municipio after the historic Casa Real was burned down and for many years, the Municipio was located on a building where the Veterans Bank in Divisoria now stands.

FIESTA DURING WORLD WAR II: Even was the Kagaya-anons were living up in the mountains away from the Japanese Imperial soldiers, they never forget to have a little  fiesta celebration. I heard stories of the evacuees or “bakwits” who lived in Talakag, Bukidnon that organized “bailes” or dancing and for fiesta food, they had big vats of carabao stewed cooked near the dance area. Foremost historian and former city mayor Reuben R. Canoy recalled that some Kagay-anons would stage an operetta by  playwright, Fabian Abellanosa on a makeshift stage lit by coco oil lamps as their way of marking the fiesta.

THE 1945 FIESTA: Liberation time – World War II has ended and the Kagay-anon has just emerged from darkest and bloodiest chapter in Philippine history. Still, many of them wanted to celebrate the town fiesta.The municipal officials deliberating on the fiesta program from the bombed Municipio building decided to have a fiesta queen but she will not be the 1945 Miss Cagayan but the title given to her will be Miss Star of Liberation. The town’s special guests were the American soldiers who, together with their local counterparts helped liberate Cagayan from the enemy. At the City Museum is a big copy of a photo taken from the fiesta parade of that year. Three local beauties in their ternos sat on an army truck that served as their float and decorated with colorful paper and plants.

That for me is a picture that symbolized the courage and resilience of the Kagay-anon. After almost three years of living in fear and away from the comforts of home, of losing loved ones, being captured by the enemy or witnessing acts of brutality towards the innocent, he finally came back to town as a war survivor. Those grim memories may stay with him for sometime yet, all was forgotten because the fiesta was coming! It was time to get the prettiest girls that survived the war and once again have the parade that many missed. They are once again free! The 1945 fiesta became a celebration of hope and a new beginning for the town and for the Kagay-anons as well.