Cagayan de Oro City celebrates one of its most joyous
occasions of the year, the feast day of Saint Augustine, the patron saint of
the city. Locals call it the fiesta. Relative to the celebration, the city
government launched the Higalaay Festival 2015. The Higalaay or friendship in
the local dialect is a series of almost a month-long core events that were conducted
by the city and other groups or organizations that culminated on August 28,
2015, the day of the fiesta. The events included kumbira, garden show, coronation
of Miss CDO, marathon, carnival show, cowboy show, Kahimunan festival,
religious and fluvial processions, parade of floats and icons and fireworks
displays.
Celebrating fiesta has become a custom of most Kagayanons. It
is a time of reunion of members of families, a time when families treat
relatives, friends and guests with sumptuous foods and drinks. The fiesta has
been a traditionally religious event of the Roman Catholics who composed the
city’s majority population. But through the years it has taken in some elements
of secular cultural practices so that it has become an all inclusive occasion. Its activities can be enjoyed and participated in by anyone regardless of his religious
affiliation. For the city government and its people, the fiesta is also an
instrument to showcase the city as one of the premiere tourist and investment
destinations not only in Mindanao but also in the Philippines. Happy Fiesta!
