Parayan Festival was a yearly grand festivity in the Municipality of San Roque, Northern Samar in celebration of its Founding Anniversary which was held every 16th of March. The annual celebration is one of the town’s ways of showing its gratitude to the Almighty on a bountiful harvest of rice and crops grown in the locality. The word “Parayan” is a waraynon word which means an abundant harvest of rice and is attributed to Señor San Isidro de Labrador, as the Patron Saint of the farmers.
The municipality of
San Roque, is one of the municipalities of the Province of Northern Samar,
located at 12°32′14″N and 124°52′26″E. The municipality comprises of 16
baragays with a total land area of 152.98 square kilometer with a population of
30,580 (2015). Majority of the people in the locality speak the Ninorte Samarnon, a variation of Waray-Waray. (Source: Wikpedia).
San Roque has
several tourism potentials that remain undiscovered by tourists. Some of these
include waterfalls, rivers, virgin forests, and beaches.
The Parayan Festival
highlights the celebration with a dance parade and floor show competition
participated in by the different barangays of the municipality. Of course,
there are other competitions all throughout the day that culminates in the evening
with a dance party at the municipal auditorium and the awarding of prizes.
The dance moves resembles
to the sequence from rice planting to harvesting gestures. The sounds of the
drums and other musical instruments add more excitement to the performers and spectators,
as the dancers sway their hands and bodies on its rhythm. Costumes and props
were designed to showcase its creativity and ingenuity to create an atmosphere
of the rice farm, as if the dancers are performing themselves on the actual rice
plantation. Other creatures such as birds, bees and farm animals including scarecrows
were also characterized to add more color on the dance presentation.
The presentations
show the respective originality of each barangay and capture the stories of the
rice farmers including their beliefs and traditions during the planting and
harvesting seasons.
I was so lucky that my
2017 vacation coincide this year’s celebration of the Parayan festival and got
to experience the magnificent performances of the different tribes. Here are
some of the photos during the festive celebration.
The CHAMPION - Brgy. Laoangan tribe
2nd Place - Brgy. Bantayan tribe
3rd Place - Brgy. Zone 6 tribe
OTHER TRIBES
Brgy. Coroconog Tribe
Brgy. Coroconog Tribe
Brgy. Zone 5 Tribe
Brgy. Balud-Balnasan Tribe
Brgy. Zone 3 Tribe
Brgy. Zone 1 Tribe
Brgy. Zone 4 Tribe
Brgy. Dale Tribe
