Lanzones Festival

Lanzones Festival, an annual event marked in the month of October, is a four-day festival held to celebrate bounty harvests of the Lanzones fruit.

Lanzones, also known as langsats, is a type of tree in the Mahogany group of plants, and whose edible fruits are a favorite for many people in the Philippines. The origin of Lanzones in Southeast Asia has made it a critical part of this festival.

Camiguin Lanzones Festival

The fruits, whose seeds are not edible, have numerous health benefits. Low in calories and packed with fiber, Lanzones make for a healthy addition to meals. These health benefits, in addition to the fact that Lanzones is prime produce from Camiguin, makes the festival a rich experience altogether.

Camiguin also serves as the venue of the Lanzones Festival. At the start of the event, the festival is marked by a weekend full of activity with street dancing, parades, and cultural heritage shows that celebrate the region’s rich history.

The event is incomplete without the beauty pageant where beautiful girls drawn from the area battle it out for the coveted title. Additionally, the festival is also home to a trade fair where the works of local artists are displayed. Look out for handicraft products and works of art that interest you, and get a souvenir or two.

One of the most remarkable things that tourists will notice about this festival is that houses and street posts will often be decorated with Lanzones. By indulging in the Lanzones festival, visitors are often awed by the need to remain grateful for a bounty harvest as well as for a rich cultural heritage in their chosen destination.

Camiguin Festival

First and foremost, Camiguin is a large island located in Region X, the northern part of Mindanao, south of Visayas. The island is rich in natural resources, especially food sources such as fish, fruits, and vegetables.

There are a total of 4 local festivals in Camiguin Islands, each of which makes the Island more alive, active, and exciting than most parts of the year.

Panaad

It’s a tradition with the same concept with some local festivities in the Philippines which celebrates the Lenten season. There are some like on the island of Guimaras, Region VI, where people would climb the top of the mountain to see the reenactment of the Lord’s crucifixion. Panaad, on the other hand, celebrates the death and resurrection by people trekking around the whole island in respect and observance of the Lenten season.

Of course, it’ll be a several days trip if you walk the whole island, Therefore, routes have been made to make the trek shorter and would only cost you a couple of hours to at least reach the start and endpoint of the event.

Filipinos believe that reenactment of the suffering made by the Lord during this time will take away their sins and would help them grow to be a better person. However, not all religion celebrates the same ideals. These festivities are most likely the tradition Filipino’s attained during the time of Spanish occupancy in the country.

Some people would just gather around Bonbon celebrating other local rituals or just get together with loved ones during Panaad. Of course, there are so many visitors from other parts of Mindanao and some in the Visayas that comes to the island during the Lenten season to take part in the rituals and festivities.

May Festival

The festival held in Camiguin Island during May celebrates the Local town’s holiday where it can either be a celebration of a saint or the lord. It was a very effective tool the Spaniards used to help Filipinos understand the religion and uplift their faith to Roman Catholic.

It has been marked deep within Filipino culture where even after the liberation from Spain, people still practice these local festivities.

San Juan Hibok Hibokan

The celebration of San Juan is dedicated to honoring the famous St. John the Baptist. It is held in either two of the famous beaches of the Island which is the Agohay beach or the Cabu-an beach.

Back in the days, it is celebrated by people enjoying the splash of water that in some ways, represents the Baptism that was introduced by the religion. It was a simple event on the island that made people exciting.

Over the years, the locals made some improvements to the event. You’d see different activities during the day such as a parade, processions, water sports, and boat races and on the night of the event, beauty pageants, and the election and coronation of the Miss Hibok Hibokan.

Lanzones Festival

Lastly, one of the most popular festivals on the Island of Camiguin is the Lanzones festival. The event is usually held on the 3rd week of October where there are grand events and other minor events for several days to a week.

The festival features different beautiful agricultural cottages and industrial products. Each barangay usually participates in the event of the beautification of their respective areas. This event is also to celebrate the main production of the Island and their leading export product which is the Lanzones. It is a fruit that came from Lansium Parasiticum, a tree belonging to the species of Mahogany.

Know more about Lanzones Festival History below further on.

Lanzones Festival history

The festival is in its 39th celebration this 2019. With that said, the estimated year where the festival started was in the year 1979 more or less. That’s about 40 years almost. This is just one of the many festivals that have been celebrated by Filipinos in different regions and islands that’s quite old.

To think, there are some festivities that have been over a hundred years old or more.

The Lanzones festival celebrates the tropical fruit that grows from the Lanzones tree or what other country calls the Lansium Parasitucum. Originally, the Lanzones tree can be traced back from Malaysia and not from the Philippines.

As known, the Philippines connect most countries in the east in so many ways. The geographical structure of the country would tell that it is a perfect trade route for people back in the day. It is highly possible that the seeds or the roots of the tree were traded from Malaysia and become prosperous in the Philippines due to convenient tropical weather which greatly benefits the growth of the tree.

The festival is at least or about 4 days of grand and fun events and activities. The island of Camiguin features their best production of Lanzones fruits ever produced at a great and affordable price.

The celebration also includes different activities such as agricultural and industrial crafts from the Island such as amazing cottages and beautifications of barangay participating in the event.

The date of the event also coincides with the harvest season of the month which is around October.

It is also a great time as export of fruit production is at its peak, making it the number one source of income of the Island importing and exporting to different places in the Philippines as well as internationally.