Having no prior knowledge about this festival, I looked forward to street party celebrations featuring unique styles of ethnic origins, something like that of Iloilo's Dinagyang. We left Manila for Cabanatuan City before 6 in the morning to catch up on the parade of Araquio participants, which was supposed to start at 8:30 a.m.. But traffic in the north expressway caused by sporadic downpour caused us to be late by almost an hour. Thanks to the rain though, the parade was cancelled and this saved us from the disgrace of coming late. Sadly, the venue for the festival proper was transferred from the town plaza called Freedom Park to the gymnasium of the Nueva Ecija National High School, hassling the propsmen and carpenters in moving and fixing yet again the stage backdrop.
Rice Wine
Because of the weather caused-trouble Araquio was rescheduled to start in the afternoon, and this gave us plenty of time to roam the city. Crammed in the NCCA van, we set off for the Philippine Rice Institute (better known as PhilRice), the establishment that was instrumental in developing Nueva Ecija the rice granary of Central Luzon. PhilRice revealed to us the secrets of Tapuy, a locally prepared rice wine adapted from the recognized rice wine of the Ifugaos. At present Tapuy is still in the development stage and not yet commercially available; however the institute already trains local residents interested in making rice wine their business.
Processing of Tapuy from inoculation to bottling takes 2 months. With elements all natural, this rice wine undergoes even natural fermentation process that brings in sugar and alcohol. The final product, which is clear when fresh but discolors when stored, turning almost soy sauce-color after 3 years, tastes halfway of white wine and gin. Containing 14 to 16% alcohol, Tapuy is best if chilled and two months after preparation.
