Contests, concerts highlight Etag Festival

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina P. Dizon

SAGADA Mountain Province -- Singing and essay writing are among competitions  residents here in this tourist town can join apart from the usual sports on the upcoming Etag Festival scheduled Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 hosted by the local government and Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

Three categories- church, barangay and school- make up the groupings for the singing contest dubbed ‘search for the Sagada municipal singers of the year’.

Fifteen contestants who qualified in the screening session shall join the finals scheduled Feb. 2, Rev Thomas Palpal coordinator for the fiesta musical search  said. 

Barangay contestants represent the out of school youth and college level aged 18 to 29 and the junior citizens aged 30 to 59.  School contestants represent students from high school,  grades 3 to 6, grades 1 to 3 and day care/kinder.

The church category shall be any contestant of whatever age and gender representing the mission churches of Sagada deanery with the following categories: duet, trio and quartet.  

Essay writing among the youth is scheduled Feb. 2 after the church mass. Conducted by the social concerns committee of CSMV, the essay writing contest shall be held at Saint Mary’s School.

Other contests including singing are sponsored by Smart/Talk N Text..

Concerts fill the evening air with  Holy  Innocents  Choir on Jan. 30, Shalom Beharim on Feb. 1, and another concert sponsored by San MIguel Beer featuring Power  Puff Corns and Jun Utleg on Jan. 31.

The Etag Festival was launched February 2011.  Etag is an indigenous food prepared from salted and smoked pork. It is eaten as main food and usually mixed with chicken meat and served during celebrations or ordinary days. Etag is customarily used in rituals and offered to Kabunian.   

The Etag Festival continues the traditional  Sagada Fiesta celebrated  3 to 5 days every last week of January to first week of February annually and ending Feb. 2.

The Christian calendar marks February 2 as the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Jesus Christ at the Temple. The Virgin Mary is the patron saint of the Church of St Mary the Virgin.