K a l a a K a n l a n a n g n g A A

Ana Kalang Festival:

Staging the Town's Meaning, History, and Background Ana Kalang Festival is a 5-day celebration every April in Nagcarlan, Laguna, across the foot of Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal. This festival commemorates the bountiful harvest of the town’s agro-industrial products which are abundant in the place, like rice, coconuts and lanzones. The festival was named after the legendary tribe head Ana Kalang. There are many versions of The Legend of Ana Kalang of Nagcarlan, Laguna. Some say that it is only a legend others says she actually existed. Ana Kalang is portrayed as a strong military individual others says she is a mountain fairy like Maria Makiling. Legend claims that she is responsible for bountiful harvests and a helper in times of need. Others express that she is a community leader before the colonization of Spain. While other acclaims that she is the fairy who cleansed the fruit lanzones from poison to make it edible. Unlike the normal citizens with wooden houses, Ana lives in a house made of stones. She always brings a golden salakot and a golden rod wherever she goes. She’s very wealthy that she donated a lot of money to build the San Bartolome Apostol Parish Church (Nagcarlan Church). For instance, there are rumors that the priests won’t start the mass if Ana is not yet seated in the church. She even built a stone road between the Nagcarlan Church and her stone house to make it easy for her to go to and from the church. FUN FACT: Ana Kalang Festival is the first and oldest non-religious festival in Laguna. The festival is even older than the Laguna’s major cultural festival, Anilag Festival (Ani ng Laguna). Nagcarlan, Laguna originally started celebrating Lanzones Festival on October 1987 to coincide with the abundance of Lanzones in the town. This festival’s initial aim is to denounce that sweet Lanzones only comes from Paete. The festivity was replicated the following year of 1988 however, on 1989 with the sudden drop of harvest of Lanzones the idea of renaming the celebration started. With the unanimous choice, it was then renamed to Ana Kalang Festival, giving honors to Ana Kalang a woman depicted in the legends of Nagcarlan. The annual festival continued until 2008 when the decision to move it in April. This change evades the rainy season and to concur with the bountiful harvests of local produce and when the weather conditions are highly favorable. Myths, legends, and cultures blend together in this dynamic Ana Kalang Festival. You will witness people's creativity and resourcefulness while having a glimpse of their rich cultural heritage.

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Ana Kalang Festival:

Events and Festivitiesn

How to celebrate Ana Kalang Festival? This festival commemorates the bountiful harvest of the town agro-industrial products which are abundant in the place, like rice, coconuts and lanzones. The LGU's of Nagcarlan prepares various activities for different ages. The festival involves the participation of 52 barangays, 35 schools, and several commercial establishments of the municipality in a five-day fete which includes an agro-trade fair, cultural presentation, talent competition, traditional games, beauty pageant, street dancing, clowning contest, fashion design competition, grand parade and a whole lot more of revelry and merrymaking. EVENTS AND FESTIVITES

Kalang-Kalang Making Contest

Bihis Kalang-Kalang Arko Tekto Park

The different barangays of Nagcarlan showcase their creativity by making Kalang Kalang, a giant statue that is ten feet high and made of various fruits, vegetables and indigenous materials.

Representatives from different schools and universities dress up some Ana Kalang dolls using indigenous materials

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There are booths made of indigenous materials in front of the town hall. They represent the famous churches in the Philippines. Inside them, you can see different local products in their Agro-trade fair.

Ana Kalang Festival:

Events and Festivitiesn

Bb. Ana Kalang Lakan ni Ana Kalang

Pageant competitions are assessed on physical attractiveness as well as personality and ability, with the winner receiving prizes or titles.

ANINAG Ani Ng Nagcarlan

Earlier it was called Timpalak Pinaka or Pinakalang. This is where the largest or heaviest vegetable and fruit harvests in the fields in Nagcarlan are displayed. Those who want to participate and will win this contest have a reward prize.

TANAW (Tatak Nacarlangin Awards)

An award giving body that recognizes outstanding youth in the Municipality of Nagcarlan. It is the flagship event of the University of the Philippines Ana Kalang Society (UP AKS), a duly recognized student organization in UPLB composed of UPLB students residing in the municipality.

In addition to the major activities listed here, the Ana Kalang Festival also celebrate smaller events including DogFest, Kusina ni Ana Kalang (a cooking competition), Juego de Anillo and Carrera De Caballos (Traditional Filipino Games and Horseback Riding Race), Street dances and Drum and Lyre Corps and Ana Kalang's Got Talent. Along with exhibitions and competitions, they also celebrate occasions to honor different community people, including elders, teachers, and community leaders.

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Ana Kalang Festival:

Promoting Youth's Talent and Skills

Program and Tanghalang Ana Kalang for elementary and secondary students. Some schools have their own theaters where the talent, skills and creativity of young people are cultivated and displayed. We witness their excellence in storytelling, reciting poetry, declamation and speech, performing in plays and singing and dancing.

Praise be to the excellent coordination of the exhibitors of the Sabayang Pagbigkas, the Drum & Lyre Corps exhibition and even the street dancing. Exposure to this work directly enhances the experience of young people and cultivates their personality a leader that is very much needed by good citizens and town leaders in the future.

Additionally, by participating in pageants, individuals demonstrated their ability, talents, and confidence. They'll come to realize that they're more competent than they ever thought. individuals learn, develop, and accomplish their objectives. Determination, perseverance, and concentration are necessary for working and intellectually and physically advancing. Joining pageants can help you develop and grow both physically and intellectually and demands perseverance, attention, and resolve.

Finally, they will be acknowledged for their accomplishments and efforts, which may make them feel more confident and occasionally result in incentives. It truly helps the young people to develop themselves, to inspire them to always participate, and to constantly showcase their hidden skills. to establish relationships and become tomorrow's leaders 4

Ana Kalang Festival:

Preservation of Culture and Tradition

Believing that Ana Kalang are helping the people, the youth, and the community of Nagcarlan. Here below are the defining goals for why we need to preserve and care for them: 1. The town of Nagcarlan will be featured to attract local and foreign tourists. 2. Introduce the major agricultural and industrial products that advance the town 3. Revive the useful indigenous customs and inherited cultures of our race. 4. The town's spirit can be established in the villages especially in their development projects. 5. Native brains and the creativity of students and other youth are cultivated. 6. Different sectors of citizens are bound to collectively achieve the basic goals of the pesticide. Many out-of-towners who attend the Festival pay visit in the historic Under-ground Cemetery, in the beautiful resorts, including Bunga Twin Falls and St. Bartholome's magnificent church that has been the way to choose this church to be the location of the long telescope of "Kampanerang Kuba”. Our tourists are the only tourist who wants to see the beautiful Arches of Barangay just here in our festival with this unique attraction. The townspeople and the villagers also set off the Coronation of "Bb. Ana Kalang", the "Street Dancing" and the "Parade of the Town" featuring beautiful carrots. The town's most popular agricultural products are known for its richness and warmth especially the "Lanzones and Rambutan". In the "biggest produce" exhibit and contest, these include vegetables that were just in Baguio. News of our "Tiangging-bayan" on the street M.H. del Pilar every sunday. One of the reason why they visit Nagcarlan is because of its large bananas, papaya, prickly, sprinkled, bitten ube, and many more fresh vegetables. The espasol, kropek, lambanog, and ube halaya industries are presently active, and there is an increasing amount of sweets and bakery. As a consequence, more individuals are finding employment that enhances their quality of life. We offer it in several racing games for kids and females, so it doesn't miss the concept of certain television networks. Even the National Commission for Culture and the Arts office has been giving out prizes for these activities for a while now. The authorities make sure to see the resurgence of the indigenous customs passed down from our ancestors during the yearly celebration. The idea of Christmas traditions is consistently emphasized in art exhibitions, weddings, yelling, greeting visitors, taking care of families, and even in the repression of social issues. Can they not also be seen as people's development? If there is a national project that is specifically binding on all sectors of the people in pursuing the great goal of advancing the Nagcarlan community, that is none other than the Ana Kalang Festival. Led by the People's Government, all the villages, all elementary and secondary schools, are fully united in the annual festival, all elementary and secondary schools, public and private and all almost civic and church organizations. These various sectors of the people have no hesitation in sharing their brains, weather and financial aid because they know that in the project they are working on, no one will benefit but the Nagcarleños people. After announcing how the Ana Kalang Festival is becoming an instrument of urban development, it is said that we are not wasting our support. We know that our annual festival is not yet perfect. It still has its weaknesses and disadvantages. It is important that we have started. The Ana Kalang Festival is the first in Laguna to have such a festival. Citizens, are we still going to leave it?

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Ana Kalang Festival:

When in Nagcarlan

PARINI NA SA NAGCARLAN! PARINI NA SA NAGCARLAN! PARINI NA SA NAGCARLAN! 6

Ana Kalang Festival REFERENCES Caparas, K. (2012) Ana Kalang Festival: Staging the Town's Myths, Legends, and Culture. https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/Ana-Kalang-Festival-Staging-the-Towns-Myths-Legends-andCulture GOVPH. (2015) Ana Kalang Festival. nagcarlan.gov.ph https://nagcarlan.gov.ph/? page_id=678#:~:text=The%20festival%20involves%20the%20participation,clowning%20contest%2C%20fashion%20 design%20competition%2C Obispo, K. (2018, July 04) Travel with Karla. travelwithkarla.com https://travelwithkarla.com/2018/04/30/ana-kalang-festival/#.Y85MAnZByM_ Gumiran, A. (2018) The Queen Escape. www.vigattintourism.com https://thequeensescape.com/nagcarlan-lagunas-ana-kalang-festival-2018/ Ozaki, A. (2018, Dec 23) Nagcarlan: The heart of Laguna. travelaguna.home.blog https://travelaguna.home.blog/2018/12/23/the-tale-of-ana-kalang/

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