Binatbatan Festival

Binatbatan Festival is a sought-after festival for all Ilocanos both young and old. It is a celebration that lasts from the last week of April up to the first week of May. This festival showcases one of the industries that kept residents alive – Abel Iloco hand-loom weaving. Binatbatan is the process of beating cotton pods to remove the seeds.  This is shown through the Binatbatan street dancing and showdown. It is such a shame that we cannot enjoy the Binatbatan Festival this 2021 due to the pandemic that is happening worldwide.

Binatbatan Festival was started in 1993 by the Save Vigan Ancestral Homes Association, Inc. This festival “Binatbatan” got its name from the Iluko term batbatin, or separating cotton balls from the seeds of the local fruit tree kapas sanglay. It Features a street dancing and showdown competition wherein participants use "abel" (woven cloth) costumes and sway in their original panagbatbat dances. The Binatbatan festival boasts of joyful colors which envelopes the whole of “World Heritage City,” as Vigan, Ilcoos Sur is known for. Its purpose is to promote awareness of the value of the historic town, which was hopes to strengthen the resolve to preserve and protect this heritage site. And maintain the popularity of the whole tourism industry of the northern region, bringing in tens of thousands of local and foreign tourists curious to explore and have a “northern experience.”

But sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many events around the world to be canceled or postponed due to a country's government-imposed restrictions of large gatherings. The Government of Vigan didn’t hold the annual Binatbatan Festival for our overall safety. We can all just hope that this will end soon so that we can experience this breathtaking festival next year.

Reference/s:

Rapadas, B. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://live.staticflickr.com/3133/5841713238_d7c4d6faf2_b.jpg


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