The Kinis Festival

Dancers perform during Rosario's 'Kinis Festival'.

The Municipality of Rosario prides itself on being home to the best, tastiest ‘kinis’, or mud crabs, in the Philippines. These ‘kinis’ are fattened and exported to Manila and beyond. I can personally attest to just how savory these creatures are.

‘Kinis’ sold by a local man during the festival.

As part of an effort to encourage tourism to the area, Rosario has endeavored to stage an annual ‘Kinis Festival’, as part of the founding anniversary of their municipality every June 21st. The focal point of this festival is to be the dance of the ‘kinis’.

Month of Fiestas

On May 25th, I joined members of the church in heading to Ligaya for their Fiesta. This was one of the many fiestas I accompanied friends in attending during this past month.

May is the busiest month for fiestas in our area. Six of the eleven barangays in our municipality hosted their fiestas during this time. A fiesta kicks off with ‘Vesper Night’, the night preceding the actual fiesta. This night involves a disco with plenty of ‘kuratsa’, a traditional Spanish dance adopted into the Filipino culture and used to raise money, oftentimes a beauty or popularity pagent, and protocols from local officials. The fiesta day itself kicks off with a mass at the local chapel, followed by a procession of the statue of the patron saint of the community. Then, the main event… lots and lots of food. Most houses prepare huge spreads of food, allowing one to go from house to house to eat as much as they can.

We were the first to attack this delectable spread of food at one of five houses we visited in Ligaya.