Interview by Rui Pastorin
Praça da Amizade, commonly known as Sintra Square, was vibrant with music and colour yesterday as the local Filipino community celebrated the annual San Isidro Labrador Pahiyas Festival Macau, which marked its 22nd edition.
Pahiyas literally translates to “precious offering”. According to the Philippines Department of Tourism’s website, the festival is traditionally celebrated on May 15, with the largest celebrations taking place in the town of Lucban. The festivities “are the Philippines best-known harvest festival to honour San Isidro Labrador, the patron of farmers” and is “deeply rooted in the traditional celebration of the townsfolk in thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest”, according to the website.
In Macau, members of the local Filipino community have been celebrating the festival since 2003 and Wabbet Cabungcal, president of the festival’s primary organiser, the Quezonian Association of Macau, told the Post on the sidelines of yesterday’s event, that he’s delighted that it has kept going for 22 years. He added that he’s even happier to have the festival celebrated in the square again where the event was previously held for around 10 years.
Due to normally experiencing heavy rain during the period, suggestions to celebrate the event indoors were made, with festivities over the past few years held at Chan Meng Kam Theatre on Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo until last year, when outdoor celebrations returned. However, it would not be until this year that the event made its way back to the square where it all started. Cabungcal said: “It’s like we’re back home. This is our home, this square”.
The one-day event, which also attracted a fair number of tourists and curious passers-by, featured a parade and several performances from not only the Filipino community, but also their Vietnamese and Indonesian counterparts. Cabungcal noted that a highlight in yesterday’s programme was the return of the popular “Parikitan” * pageant, which was last held in 2022.
Moreover, Cabungcal spoke about the festival’s importance to Macau, noting that aside from aiming to offer something in terms of tourism, it was an event that Macau’s Filipino community could enjoy and take part in, alongside other local communities in recent years.
*The International Photography Awards website notes that parikitan showcases a “local designer’s talent in designing costumes using raw materials”.
Quezonian Association of Macau President Wabbet Cabungcal poses during yesterday’s event.
– Photos taken yesterday by Rui Pastorin
