"Jagna town fiesta, a way of showcasing how food reflects the culture of Jagna and the people's way of living"
Nine consecutive nights programs in the gymnasium, ukay-ukay (used clothes) stoles around the gym, peryahan (gambling stoles) in the market, toy stoles everywhere, balloon vendors, food stoles all over the town, and crowdy places, these are some of the visible signs that signifies that the Jagna town fiesta is fast approaching.
Jagna is a small town located at the south-eastern part in the beautiful province of Bohol.
Three hundred-eighty years ago, Jagna is just a simple town in the said province. Jagnaanons, the natives of Jagna, lived alongside with the abundance of nature’s grace and with their hardworks, they were able to received more graces from the environment. The people lived peacefully as if they were asleep, no chaos and everything was in order. Not until the "forces of chaos" came to rule the town. During the re-enactment in sinulog dances, these evil creatures are often referred to as the devils. These devils are said to have disturb "the sleep of the town". From that time on, the natives became slaves of the evils and others were hurt by these evils. It came to a point when Jagnaanons can no longer survive from what they are suffering when the devils came. They can't help themselves but to ask for help from above. Then, one day, St. Michael the Archangel, who was sent by God, came down from Heaven to fight against the devils and luckily, with the help of his sword, he had conquered the devils, killed them, and brought back to Jagnaanons what the devils had taken from them, their freedom. Since then, the people began to celebrate their town fiesta in honor and as a sign of thanksgiving to St. Michael, ther patron saint, who once saved the life of their ancestors. Jagnaanons celebrate their town fiesta every 29th day of September.
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| St. Michael Parish |
In every fiesta celebration, Jagnaanons will definitely start their day by attending the Holy Mass in the Parish. Then, after the mass, the people will hold a fluvial parade accompanied by a drum and bugle corps. in honor to their patron. Many water-vehicles, like boats, join the parade travelling from one of the town's boundary from a neighbouring town, which is Duero, up to the other boundary, which is Garcia Hernandez. After the parade, different activities are to be conducted such as boxing competitions and Sinulog Estokada. Some Jagnaanons will be busy preparing foods for their visitors. That is why the fiesta is a perfect way of showing how food reflects the culture of the town and so with the people's way of living. But, even few days before the fiesta, the town's culture can be already seen.
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| Making puso containers |
Before the fiesta, most of the family members if not all, who are working outside the town or even abroad, will ensure that they can go to their respective homes because for them, it is very important to celebrate the fiesta with their family and loved ones. The fiesta showcases how the people in Jagna value each family member. It serves as a way for them to reunite and relinquish every single moment they have missed being together when they were apart and during the fiesta, every family member is making a bond with each other. They can spent longer time as a whole family because of different activities in every program and also in preparing everything for the fiesta, preparing foods in particular. Everyone will be busy doing their different tasks. While others will be cleaning the entire house and do household chores, the rest of the family members will be focusing on the preparation of the foods to be served during the fiesta. Some will be buying the ingredients in the market while others will be working on making puso (hanging rice) containers for the "dinumugan" and gathering banana leaves for the "suman". In the preparation of the food, the whole family will be working and helping each other in order to make their works faster. They also have to ensure that the food they will be preparing are enough in order to make sure that all visitors can eat. Once every task is completed, they will be focusing on another task but sometimes, when task are too many, these will be divided. The elders will be cooking for the dishes, others will be working on the "kakanin" (the term used to refer Philippines native snacks), some are working on the desserts, and simple tasks such as buying spices will be done by the young. In cooking every dish, the elders can also teach the younger generation how to cook every dish so that for the following fiestas to come, they will be the one preparing these. Because of working as a whole, they can also have their time talking about different experiences and even share problems. And even though it would be tiring for the whole family because of the heavy preparations before the fiesta, what matters most is that they have worked together happily.
Jagna town fiesta, indeed, also shows how the food reflects the people's personality and values. Firstly, during the fiesta, every household will be preparing their foods even if the people do not have enough money because what is important for them, is that they can serve foods in the table in order to share and give thanks for the graces they have received throughout the year. Some Jagnaanons will lend money from their close friends and relatives just to have enough money to buy for ingredients. Even if it causes them in debt after the fiesta and be bothered how to pay their debts , what matters most is that by preparing foods, they can show how they value what St. Michael have done for their ancestors. It is ironical to think that the people will be borrowing money to thank the blessing they have received and after they fiesta, what they are going to pay for their debts is just also the blessings they have received as fruits of their labor. Secondly, it is also common in the town that every house will be open for everyone to enter. It doesn't matter who you are, friend or not, but as long as there are still foods available in the dining table, everyone is invited to eat. By doing so, Jagnaanons showcase their hospitality that comes from their heart. Because of this hospitality, every person will never get hungry when they are visiting Jagna when the fiesta arrives. Even a beggar that is asking for some foods will be invited to eat at the table where they can eat comfortably and choose what they want to eat. It is also said that every visitor or stranger is free to go from one house to another. And lastly, after every meal, visitors are also given extra food to be brought home or as what it is commonly called "bring house" that is why even those relatives of the visitors who did not able to cone with can still eat the foods from the house. Look how generous the people in Jagna are, despite the fact that they have less food because of less money, they can still find a way to let their visitors bring with them foods to their respective houses. Jagnaanons will never think of what are left for them, instead, they are thinking on what they can give to their visitors. That is probably the reason why the people living in the town are blessed that they are given graces for the whole year. 
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Jagnaanons, as I have said earlier, will prepare food not that much. They willl always consider the amount of foods to be served with the amount of their available money. The people would prepare foods that are not costly to be prepared. That is why simplicity of living can be seen on the foods they are preparing. Still, other Jagnaanons, who are rich, will prepare lechon and other expensive dishes. But, in most Jagnaanon household, what will be present are commonly dinuguan, pancit bihon, lumpia, menudo, and other "kakanin". And to start with dinuguan, it is a blood stew made of pig’s blood, and its internal organs. In jagna, the pig's intestine or "tina-e" is usually used in making dinuguan. While some Jagnaanons will be slaughtering a pig, others will ask for the intestine for them to cook. The intestine is being chopped into smaller bits and mixed with the blood in cooking. Many visitors wondered why does the dinuguan made in Bohol will last for a longer period than those made outside the province, but the secret is adding more vinegar on it but you should also make sure that the dinuguan will be too sour. Next is the pancit bihon which I know most of us are familiar. Pancit bihon ia a Filipino stir-fried noodle basically made of a pancit bihon noodles, which are commonly thin noodles, added with soy sauce, bits of meat, pork in particular, and vegetables such as cabbage and carrots. Pancit bihon in Jagna are used for the replacement of spaghetti. Another is the lumpia which usually made of tiny cuts of meat and vegetables wrapped in a lumpia wrapper with a diameter of approximately 5 in. But in Jagna, snap beans (stringbeans) or bagiuo beans, as it is commonly called in the Philippines, mixed with bits of pork are commonly used as the one to be wrapped by the lumpia wrapper. Lumpia is commonly cooked by frying. Next is the menudo which is originally a Mexican soup but in the Philippines, it is a stew made of pork meat but sometimes liver cubes with green peas potatoes, carrots and a sauce. Another are the different "kakanin" such as suman and dinumugan. Suman is a rice caked that is usually made of a sticky rice and coconut milk. It is commonly wrapped with banana leaves. In Jagna, suman can vary according to what ate the ingredients used. These veriations are namely suman pelet ( a rice cake made purely of sticky rice and coconut milk and added with either salt or sugar to add taste), suman dinumugan ( a rice cake made with additional main igredient which is ripe banana), suman tiktik ( a rice cake made of corn flour rather than sticky rice) suman bulanghoy ( a rice cake made of cassava and coconut milk instead of sticky rice, and suman kamote ( a rice cake made of sweet potato rather then sticky rice). Next to suman is the dinumugan. It is a native delicacy of Bohol that made of a mashed banana (saba variety), flour and coconut milk. In preparing for dinumugan, all yu have to do is mix all the ingredients. It is commonly wrapped in a banan leaf, but in Jagna, in it place inside a puso (hanging rice) container and then steamed for minutes. In Jagna, it is my favorite "kakanin'
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| Sinu-og |
Food really took a big part of the fiesta. But there are also different activities which you should not miss when you visit Jagna during their fiesta. One of the highlights is the sinulog estokada which shows a re-enactment of how St. Michael the archangel saved the town from the devils. In every fiesta celebration, sinulog is very important because it is said that there was a time when the people had offered a sinulog dance, the town was heavily rained. But I don't think it was true or if it just a coincidence. What is important is that we can give thanks to our patron in our very own little ways. And back to the fiesta, every fiesta is commonly ends with a fireworks display signifying that the Sinulog competition is already done.
