Irish: BINATBATAN FESTIVAL AS A WEAVING WONDERLAND

The "Heritage City," as Vigan is known, bursts into merry colors through its Binatbatan Festival, a non- Religious Festival in honor of the thanks-giving & celebration of peoples' Weaving Industry held around May. Binatbatan Festival has its origins in Vigan's abel weaving industry, which existed long before the Spaniards arrived to colonize the Philippines. It is derived from the word batbat, which refers to a pair of bamboo sticks used to extract cotton pods from kapas sanglay trees. In Ilocano, the word "kapas" (from kapas sanglay) signifies "cotton."

This festival began in 2002 to highlight this ancient weaving technique that predates the arrival of the Spaniards. Binatbatan became another Ilocano folk dance or an occupational dance. Performers of this dance maneuver in and out of the parallel sticks and the resulting rhythm and speed of the beating of sticks made a colorful and lively display.

Street dancers of the Binatbatan Festival joyfully and cheerfully wave their "batbat," some simulate the method done by abel-weavers in separating the pieces of cotton as they gracefully perform the process artistically with the beat of the drums and lyres rolling around the historic streets of the heritage city of Vigan.

Despite the fact that it was an extremely hot day, the street dancers continued to beam with joy at their rich history and tradition. Street dancing becomes more exciting over time, from Vigan's bustling Quezon Avenue to the lively Liberation Boulevard to the tranquil and quiet Calle Crisologo.

Even small children who participated in the street dance gave it their all without showing any signs of tiredness or complaint.

This year's event was quite different from previous years' celebrations before the COVID-19 pandemic. There were more activities conducted then than as of now during the pandemic with only limited activities connected to this festival. However, what matters is that we still remember and recognize this festival.