Angono Higantes Festival: A larger-than-life spectacle

It all started as a joke.

More than a century ago, Angono was a Spanish hacienda where the townspeople were prohibited to hold pagan celebrations and where only one festivity was allowed - the town fiesta in honor of its patron saint San Clemente.

Because of this prohibition, Angono folk naturally made the most of this one festival. They prepared lots of food, wore colorful costumes, held a big procession featuring big papier-mache caricatures of their Spanish landlords. These multi-colored, humongous, comical and sometimes scary 12-footers were called Higantes.

Today, the Higantes Festival is now only a part of a two-week long celebration of the Angono Town Fiesta. This year’s festival started on Nov. 14 and ended on the 23rd. The activities revolved around the church and its townspeople, beginning with the Misa Cantada, a special sung mass; a novena and a procession.

Daily activities such as the Higanteng tiangge (flea market) were held at the Municipal Park Plaza. There were singing and dance contests, fried Itik (Angono’s prized delicacy) festival and cooking competition, a 5k fun run, on-the-spot painting contest, an art exhibit, a job fair, a bingo and videoke challenge, government employees’ parade, and of course, the highlights of the festivities, the Race of the Higantes and the Procession of the Pagoda.

Procession

The Prusisyon of the Pagoda is the culmination of the festival where practically everyone is out on the street, either as a participant or a spectator.

After the early 6 a.m. mass, representatives of Angono’s 13 barangays converged on the church grounds, fixing their costumes and performing a last run on their choreography, parade steps or musical repertoire.

This was not an ordinary procession though. Each group had its own musical band, all garbed in rich vibrant color costumes, with a baton-twirling majorette at the helm. Choreographers were busy on the sides, seeing to it that movements were properly synchronized.

Close to deafening, the sounds of the marching band reminded me of the familiar vibrations of years past when my Lola would make me wear my best clothes for the procession. It was a sound that warms the heart, making me realize that this is my community, the culture where I belong, the identity that tells me where my roots truly lay.

The making of the Higantes

Finally, at the tail end of the line are the Higantes — tall, big and proud. Suddenly, the streets feel so much smaller as these gargantuan figures dominate the scene. We may have already seen them in action the day before, but still, we couldn’t help but stare in awe and gawk in submission at their presence. "Ah, they are our allies and protectors," we positively assured ourselves.

Over the years, the method for creating the Higantes has seen some changes. On the eve of the Higantes Parade, we wandered around Angono trying to find a famous restaurant that they say serves the best fried itik. Instead, we found Higantes lined up by the sidewalk still undergoing prep work for the big day.

Our curiosity took us inside the shop where they are made and saw parts of the "behemoths" waiting to be assembled. The lady in charge was kind enough to give us a run down on how they are made.

The old technique, she said, of doing the head is by papier mache. A mold of the head is carved out of clay and once the clay mold is dry, strips of paper are glued, one on top of the other until the right thickness is achieved. The papier mache is then dried and cut open to separate it from the mold. The hollow head is glued back together again and painted with the details of the face.

The body is just a skeleton frame made of yantok or bamboo strips. This is done to really make it very light for one person to carry. Once the shape is formed, it is dressed up in yards and yards of fabric resembling their characters. The finished head is then attached to the body and a person can go inside and carry the Higante around.

In the new method, which this shop employs, the same technique is applied but different materials are used. For the face mold, plaster of Paris is used instead of clay. Fiberglass is applied to the mold instead of paper and thin strips of aluminum are used for the body frame. These materials are better as they are more durable and withstand the elements quite well. We found out that different shops make Higantes in different ways.

As thousands joined the procession, thousands more lined up the streets to watch and — ready for this —splash water on unsuspecting participants and onlookers. They had water bottles, squirt guns, and even drinking glasses, spraying water on everyone passing by. I’d say: A little ‘San Juan’ adds fun! The revelry and camaraderie of the people are unbelievable.

After winding through Angono’s roads, the street procession ended by Laguna Lake where the image of San Clemente, patron of the Fishermen, was loaded on a boat for the fluvial procession down the river and back to the church.