The fiesta is one of the must-prepared events in the barangays, though lavish spending is not practiced now unlike in the past. What most of the families do is prepare for the event months in advance –like raising pigs and chickens for meat. These animals are butchered on a Saturday morning, the first day of the feast, and are brought to the nearest brook or stream for cleaning (no religious basis whatsoever)–that explains why my host discouraged me to bathe in Isarog's cool steam water that day!
No fiesta celebration is complete without any of the Bicolano sweets –peanut brittle, sweet potato or ube crisp, and pili nuts. Usually the visitors who are mostly the hosts' relatives and friends from other towns bring their own share of desserts.
On a Saturday night a beauty pageant is held, which is followed by a dance party for the teenagers and young adults which lasts until two o' clock in the morning. Married couples of course have their merrymaking too; their dance party is coupled with a singing competition held on a Sunday night. A local mobile disco is hired for the occasion, making the party nearly comparable to disco venues in Naga city. Indigenous materials are used to decorate the area, a disco ball is hanged on the center of the dance floor, and chairs and tables are arranged on the borders. There are kiosks around that serve drinks and snacks. Some minor mistakes on the design and arrangement of the venue are concealed by the blinking lights, which complete the disco atmosphere.
Visitors usually flock in the afternoon of Saturday, and stays until Sunday noon. It's never a problem if the house of the host is not big enough to accommodate all the visitors because only the children sleep while the adults are busy preparing the menus, eating and drinking local wines like tuba --a wine made from coconut juice. Certainly, most of the teenagers are jammed on the disco party.
A variety of Filipino food can satisfy each and everyone's appetite, and of course, distinctly Bicolano dishes would never be missing on the table. This includes Bicol Express (pork), Laing or Pinangat (taro leaves) and Tinumtuman (pork)–all these are cooked in coconut milk made spicy with local pepper called siling labuyo.
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