Guling-Guling Festival: The Philippine Mardi Gras

Guling-guling is an annual festivity that signifies the last day of merrymaking before the Catholic community's observance of the Lenten Season. It was introduced by the Spanish friars in the 16th century and thereby being celebrated for over 400 years now. This is a much more somber celebration compared to the Fat Tuesday of New Orleans and Mardi Gras of Brazil.

It’s my fourth time to witness this Guling-guling Festival in the town of Paoay. It never ceases to amaze me. It keeps on getting better every year. This year was a fabulous one because it showcased a dramatic highlight of the celebration that is the smearing. It is the term where guling-guling was taken. It is the marking of a cross on the forehead of the person with white rice flour.

All the lights were put off as the dancers came altogether infront of the wonderfully designed stage with lighted candles on their hands. Meanwhile Mayor Bobby Clemente raised the coconut shell with the wet white rice flour in it while a beautiful meditational sound of music was played. It is a ritual where the mayor marks the forehead of his constituents with the cross. This time, he passed on to the vice mayor and to the council members the privilege to do the smearing of the people. I was also smeared on the forehead with the cross by a council member.

A couple of days before the main event, a cultural night entitled Talugading ti Paoay was held at the lobby of the UNESCO World Heritage Paoay Church. There were several dance performances that portrayed the local and other dances in the region, choir singing of children and adult groups interpreting Ilocano songs particularly depicting Paoay and the Bukanegan, a humorous discussion of parties in favor and not of the promotion of tourism in Paoay. It was really cool to watch the people perform in the open air.

On the main event of the Fat Tuesday, a dudol making was conducted in the morning compliments of Vice-Mayor Guererro. It is a delicacy of Paoay composed of ground glutinous rice mixed in molasses. It is a continous stirring of the mixture in a big wok. This delicacy is usually being served to the guests during the afternoon event.

Then the street pageantry followed in the afternoon. All the dancers showcased their best abel costumes. Abel is the loom woven local textile. There were ten groups that participated and every group sport a new fashion design each year. They swayed to a one uniform music with the main dance element of kumintang. They sang Sabunganay. For this category of street dancing, contingent number 9 came out as the first place followed by contingent numbers 10 and 8 as second and third placers respectively.

The dance showdown came after the smearing highlight. It was really an amazing show put up by the various groups complete with props and materials. They depicted the Christianization of the town with some of the cultural traditions and local occupations. My judgement of the winners coincided with results from the board of adjudicators. Contingent number 10 came out victorious as the first placer richer by Php75,000.00. The performances of contingent 1 and 9 came into the second and third place respectively.

Capping the event was a grand fireworks display infront of the church. This is truly a celebration of life and faith. A celebration like this underlines the importance of the cultural treasures in the life of the community.

This is the video of the 1st place winner in the dance showdown.



This is the video of the 2nd place winner in the dance showdown.



This is the video of the smearing ceremony- the highlight of the Guling-guling Festival.



This is the video of the grand fireworks display.