Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 2014: Religious Procession (Street and Fluvial)

The feast day of Saint Augustine on August 28, 2014 started with a mass at Saint Augustine Cathedral at about 4:00 am. It was followed by a street procession which passed through the city’s urban villages or barangays . Later in the morning at about 10:00 a.m. a fluvial parade of decorated boats and rafts from the different barangays went upstream from Macabalan to the Duaw Park at the back of the city hall buildings. The fluvial parade is a part of the religious procession of the fiesta. In addition to the boats that carried the icons of Saint Augustine and his mother Saint Monica, participating barangays had with them the icons of their respective patron saints. Also in the parade was the boat boarding Miss Beatrice Alvarez Pohl, the newly crowned Miss Cagayan de Oro and the other young ladies that participated in this year’s beauty pageant. The procession is a way of seeking divine providence and of promoting endeavors that protect and preserve the environment. 

Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 2014: P.E. Rhythmic Dance Competition

Another core event of the Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 20124, the P.E. Rhythmic Dance Competition, was held at the Pelaez Sports Center on August 25 2014. It was participated in by 4 elementary and 4 secondary schools with each of them sending at least 800 P.E. students. Parents, students, members of the local press, schools and government officials and other spectators witnessed the show performed by the student participants. In coordination with the city government, the Department of Education, the City Schools Division and the Department of Tourism have joined effort to organize and successfully carry out the activities of this specific event which is a prelude to the city’s feast day of Saint Augustine on August 28, 2014.

Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 2014: Miss Cagayan de Oro 2014

The evening of August 23, 2014 was the coronation of Miss Cagayan de Oro 2014 at the Lim Ket Kai atrium. The event was participated by 12 contestants from the different villages of the city. They were evaluated based on criteria that included among others, their personality, physical attractiveness and intelligence. Miss Beatrice Alvarez Pohl of Barangay Carmen came out as the winner for this year’s beauty pageant. The first runner up was Sherra Mae Vacalares of Barangay Camaman-an. The crowned Miss Cagayan de Oro 2014 will also serve as the ambassador of goodwill during her reign to help promote the city to outsiders as a good destination for tourism and investment in the Philippines.

The search for Miss Cagayan de Oro is one of the core events of Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 2014. The events precede the celebration of the feast day of Saint Augustine on August 28, 2014. Local residents of the city simply call that special day as the fiesta.