Introduction

● The festival is held in the beautiful city of Dagupan in the province of Pangasinan.
The festival is held in celebration of the city's thriving aquaculture, specialising in
bangus or milkfish. Every year, tourists from all walks of life make their way to the
city to tantalise their taste buds with this unique delicacy.

Origin

● Bangus Festival, first celebrated in 2002, was the brainchild of former mayor
Benjamin S. Lim, who wished to emphasise the local bangus industry and promote
Dagupan as the bangus capital of the world. Initially a part of the thanksgiving
festival Pista'y Dayat, Bangus Festival developed into a two-week socio-economic
program of activities that highlights the city's top produce.

● If you’d ask where the Bangus Festival place is, many Filipinos would already know
the answer as there is only one place in the country that is known to have the tastiest
bangus: Dagupan. You can trace the Bangus Festival history back to 2002 when it all
started. It was then-Mayor Benjamin Lim who initiated this kind of festival to
promote Dagupan’s most precious gem, bangus or milkfish. And one year later, they
were recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Longest Barbecue of
the World.

● Since then, Dagupan has been celebrating this festivity yearly in the month of April.
In fact, because it is a big event, many media entities not just from the Philippines but
across the world are covering this annual event in Dagupan.

Celebration

● The festival commences with the lighting of 1000 barbecue grills lined up to cook
thousands of bangus, which stretches up to two kilometres. This also serves as a
competition for hundreds of cooks, whose dishes are judged not only by the grilling
but also their taste and the creativity with which they are served. The contest was
eventually called “101 Ways to Cook Bangus” and won for the city a recognition in
the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest barbecue in 2003.

● Aside from the grilling challenge, the festivity showcases a bangus eating contest, a
search for the biggest and heaviest bangus, the Gilon-Gilon dancing festival, the
Pigar-Pigar festival, the Halo-Halo festival, and the Bangusan street party, where
several local and Manila-based bands perform along Jose R. De Venecia Expressway
Extension.

● In 2010, a new activity called “Yaman ng Norte Diad Bangus Festival” was
introduced to the festival. It aims to provide an avenue for towns and cities in North
 Luzon to promote their products, delicacies, culture, and events. Each participating
town or city has a trade booth where visitors can avail of their products.

● The Bangus Festival is celebrated annually in Dagupan City in Pangasinan, which is

known as the Bangus Capital of the Philippines. The festival features the ever-famous
bangusine (bangus cuisine) which is the main highlight of the event, street dancing
where locals wear a colourful Bangus Festival costume, bangus grilling, deboning,
variety shows, trade fairs, beauty pageants, sports fest, cooking show, medical
mission, visual arts, band concerts, sports activities, dog show, fluvial parade, drum
and lyre parade, and street party.

● The Bangus Festival is an annual celebration in Dagupan to promote the city’s

milkfish aquaculture industry. The celebrations typically go on for 10 days and
involve a mixture of sports events, trade fairs, and street parties. The milkfish is called
bangús in the Philippines, and it is the national fish.

● The Bangus Festival is celebrated to give thanks to the city’s thriving aquaculture,
especially in the bountiful bangus or milkfish harvests. Among the highlights of this
non-religious festival are the bangus cook-off, street party, trade fairs and of course,
the electrifying festival dance in the streets.

● Bangus Festival Non-Religious Festival in honour of the thanks-giving & bountiful

harvest of Bangus. The Bangus Festival is an annual celebration in the city of
Dagupan. Due to the Spanish influence on Filipinos Catholic spirituality, most of
these festivals are religious in origin.

● Unlike other festivities in the Philippines that use different dialects, there is no actual
Bangus Festival meaning as it is already in the Filipino language. Except that the real
Bangus Festival meaning is to give thanks for the bountiful harvest and boost the local
tourism and their pride which is the bangus.

Activities

● Bangus Festival 2020 and this year’s celebration will still not be held the way they
used to be as the country is still battling a pandemic. And with the current community
quarantine travel restrictions in place, people are not allowed to conduct mass
gatherings to avoid the spread of the virus. There is no exact Bangus Festival date but
it is a 10-day event held every April.

● The Bangus Festival boasts of a street party where dancers and performers go around
the city wearing happy faces and vibrant costumes inspired by milkfish. During the
parade, participants can be seen dancing while showcasing the bountiful harvest of
milkfish for the year. Grillin' party on the streets.
 ● From Manila, Pasay or Cuba, ride a bus going to Dagupan City. your trip will not be a
hassle as there are many buses available daily. The travel time is around 4 to 5 hours.

Highlights

1. Kalutan ed Dagupan - This is one of the main highlights of the event. That is why
when Bangus Festival 2020 didn’t happen due to the pandemic, the yearly tradition
was cut. Kalitan ed Dagupan is the event where everyone partakes in grilling
thousands of bangus on the street.

2. 101 Ways to Cook Bangus - It is a cooking contest where seasoned cooks or chefs
showcase their talent preparing the bangus in the most unique and delicious way.

3. Gilon! Gilon! ed Dalan - Like any other festivals, of course it’s not complete without
street dancing. When the Bangus Festival takes place, the participants wear colourful
Bangus Festival costumes and dance to the beat of the drums where some even carry
bangus props.

4. Bangus Rodeo - This is the event where the bangus growers showcase their best
products and their food-processing skills.

5. Milkfish products, lots of it - It's been said that Dagupan is home to the tastiest and
most delicious milkfish species in the world. These special products are prepared by
the locals and are sold at reasonable prices.

6. Parade of dancers - The Bangus Festival boasts of a street party where dancers and
performers go around the city wearing happy faces and vibrant costumes inspired by
milkfish. During the parade, participants can be seen dancing while showcasing the
bountiful harvest of milkfish for the year.

7. Grillin' party on the streets - One of the main highlights of the festival is the street
party where locals and tourists grill about 10,000 milkfish! Having clinched the title
of longest milkfish grill in the entire world, this event happens along Fernandez
Avenue, a major road in Dagupan.

8. Cooking contests - Chefs and cooking experts join various cooking contests
throughout the festival. Usually, participants are asked to cook bangus in a variety of
ways. Choosing the winner is simple: the cook who has prepared the tastiest milkfish
dish becomes the champion. In 2005, participants built a two-kilometre grill and
prepared more than 8,000 kilos of milkfish.

9. Eating contest - Aside from the cooking contests, there is a competition where
contestants need to debone a milkfish and eat the meat in the fastest time possible.
 10. Exhibits - Prior to the event, the organisers will look for the heaviest milkfish caught.
It will be displayed during the Bangus Festival for people to see. The organisers also
look for the most beautiful milkfish, that one with the shiniest fins and fattest belly.

11. Food strips - Food stalls are everywhere during the course of the event. Snacks,
native delicacies, refreshments, and even pasalubongs can be bought at these stores.

Reflection

● I personally chose this festival because of the food that they are celebrating which is
bangus, and bangus is one of the dishes that you would find commonly on most
festivals here in the Philippines, and festivals for me are one of the things that truly
bring us Filipinos together, it shows that the bond that we have is one of the greatest
things that we have, the bond as friends or family, and even the bond between total
stranger, that even though we aren't relatives, we still appreciate the connection we
have for being a Filipino, we consider this bond something special and appreciate,
that even though we just met, we consider each other as friends, that even though
we're just friends, we consider each other as family, not by blood, but by the bond that
we have with each other, and I think this is what the Philippines and the Filipinos
have that others don't, it's the friendship we easily form on complete strangers and the
sheer will and obligation to be friends with everyone, the Filipino pride if you would
say, we Filipinos take pride of out country so much that whenever we hear another
person from another country mention the Philippines, we immediately take pride over
our very blood as Filipinos, and when people say they love the Philippines, may it be
the scenery or food, we immediately say that we are Filipinos ourselves and
immediately consider them as friends, though sometimes some may take advantage of
our pride, but even so we love the exposure that we receive no matter what, overall, it
may seem as if it's a far and stretched reflection, I chose the bangus festival because
of the bangus, as for me, it represents the bond that we have with each other just for
being ourselves, Filipinos.

Drawing

● A mix of the artworks "The Starry Night" and "The Great Wave", with the structure of
Dagupan's welcome arch, and the color scheme of the artwork "The Starry Night".