Pista sa Angono 2011

Angono + Morong + Binangonan, Rizal 
November 19, 2011

After that culture overload at last month's Malabon tour, I decided to do revisit my original plan to do one such trip every month. Now, while wandering alone guided only by internet research have been rewarding enough in many of my outings, being toured by someone in the know has always been much more insighttful. For November, I wanted to revisit an initial trip my friends did of Angono. While scheduling conflicts makes me unable to visit in time for the climactic fiesta of frenzied water pelting and riotous higantes dancing, a trip some days prior offered a more relaxed - not to mention dry experience. Joined with an old classmate - Gian, an friend, artist, and true blue Angono native, we wandered aimlessly through the town exploring its hidden charms and unexpected treasures.

We start the trip off in Angono to go somewhere off the town - two towns away in fact to a church (I love old churches) that has captured my fascination even only from pictures. The church of Saint Jerome in the town of Morong is a sight to behold.Like the Santa Maria of Ilocos Sur and UNESCO fame, this too sits on a lofty perch atop a hill overlooking the town. As if not contented with the elevation, the church's architecture is tall and majestic - as what Gian enthuses something that looks like a trophy. True enough the church has no other like it in the country. It is graceful, elegant, and heavily ornamented. For this first stop alone, I have to comment that the trip has already been rewarding. Interiors-wise, its is simple and bare, a complete 180 from its facade. The facade will want you to go inside, but as if like a neat trick the interiors will force you to be contemplative and somber.

After Morong, we faced a dilemma of whether to venture further down the road to the towns of Baras and Tanay where research tells me have a spectacular colonial church each as well, but since lunch time is passing and Angono still beckons with activities in the afternoon, we decided to instead do a visit to Santa Ursula in Binangonan on the way back. The church is old and charming but was obviously a downer compared to the one in Morong. That Baroque wonder was a tough act to follow indeed. From here on we ventured back to Angono to have lunch at the legendary Balaw-Balaw.

Im no stranger to the culinary delights of Balaw-Balaw but I was honestly more interested about the art and ambience of the place more than anything. It was a nice lunch of pakbet, crispy itik and balaw-balaw rice downed by an exotic drink of coconut meat and grenadines eerily called "Gayuma". After a purchase of a miniature higante - this trip's token pasalubong, Gian and I wandered up the halls of the gallery above the restaurantwhere he explains stories about certain artifacts. Interesting is the display of the "puso" and the paper roosters which play a role in the town's Easter Salubong practice. It is also here that we see the initial prep work done to the family's higantes army which were being readied for the fiesta a few days from now.

A tricycle ride further into the town center brought us to Barangay Poblacion Itaas where the eminent sons of Angono - Maestro Lucio San Pedro and Carlos "Botong" Francisco hail from. Lining the walls of the main street were replicas of Botong's murals and where a snippet to Maestro Lucio's immortal lullaby "Sa Ugoy Ng Duyan" can be viewed by the public. In preparation for the fiesta the streets are lined with arches of bamboo where families hang boughs of trinkets which hark to a tradition of hanging tools of a family's trade. So when an arch feature fishing nets and boat implements, it can be deduced that the family derive its livelihood from fishing. A charming tradition which is now being phased out in favor of random ornaments which will double up as christmas buntings during the Christmas season, they light up the streets come night time as well.

In this street is the parish church as well where prep for the 6th day novena is being readied. A new addition Gian tells me is the retablo mayor which upon closer inspection feature subtle refernces to Angono's religious history. Such as the bamboos being held together by clumps of the kamuning shrub - a traditional decoration of the pagoda during the fiesta parade's fluvial leg and the fronds of the alagaw herb which feature prominently on Holy Week church rites. When illuminated, the retable glows in a pale green light - shining and shimmering with typical Baroque filigree and ornaments.

From the church we venture back to the municipio where the Parehadoras streetdancing parade was nearing its end. the parehadoras are the ladies garbed in tradional sayas and bakya armed with the fisherman's oar which accompany the parade of San Clemente and the higantes. As a finishing activity, hot-air lanterns were released to the skies by the crowd to the delight of the everyone. It is here that we were reminded of the coming Centennial year of Botong Francisco's birth in 2012 which promises to be a a year of celebration and merryment for the town.

As nighttime falls on the town, Gian and I proceeded to the Reyes home - where the old bust image of San Clemente caught by a fisherman through his nets in olden days are put up for public veneration. Owing to this bust image, this image is lovingly referred to as San Clementeng Putol. After a light dinner of puto bumbong and a local tea, we attended the novena mass capped off with a lively paagaw in the church patio to the tune of a live band.



It is here with the drumbeats still beating in our ears, I thanked Gian for a day well spent before I ventured back to Manila. Relaxed but not left wanting for the cultural experience I was searching for, this day trip to Angono and its vicinity was a complete 180 from my initial trip during the fiesta 2 years back. Leaving full of insight, I promised that this will not be my last.

On to the next.