Tuusin na nga!

Sihud festival becomes Ambitanay: a pantheon of saints; a coming together of boats and people

By Carlos A. Arnaldo
Brgy Pawa-Municipality of Pan-ay
September 13, 2014



Pawa Fishing Port, September 10, 2014  -- The annual Sihud Festival of Barangay Pawa (Pan-ay municipality)  took on deep religious meaning this year, as gaily decorated bankas and barotos bore the many statues of the patron saints from the neighboring barangays. One could see San Roque, San Vicente Ferrer, San Isidro Labrador, Jesus Nazareno,  the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and particularly San Nicolas of Tolentine, patron of the Pawa chaplaincy. 

In keeping with this spirit, Butacal Barangay Captain Bebot Belvis arranged ten barotos to join this fluvial procession from their far off barangay in Tinagong Dagat (Hidden Sea at the far end of the Pan-ay river). The ten blue boats also bore saintly names: Our Lady of the Rosary, Nuestra Señora de Buenviaje, San Francisco and San Francisco de Assisi.


The Festival is appropriately called Sihud, meaning the catch, the harvest of fish, shrimp and shells. And together with their  neighboring barangays, the Pawanon celebrate their fish harvests on September 8, the feast day of St Nicolas of Tolentine. It is a time of gratitude, of sharing and also of praying for future harvests! 

This year, Sihud was especially appreciated after the devastations of Super Typhoon Yolanda last November 2013, which destroyed most of the fishing boats of this region. Hence, buddies and classmates of Ateneo de Manila University, informally called Grupo 58, contributed to set up a boat factory in Pan-ay to fabricate the first 38 boats, thus to restore livelihood to the fishermen. The target is 20 more boats by December, making 58 in all!

This year, Pawa Barangay Captain Edna R. Cortel wished to enhance the festival giving it the theme of Ambitanay or sharing.  ‘Kasi sihud refers to the catch and its value to the family and the community. Sa taong ito, ang gusto namin ay bigyang halaga ang bigayan, ang pakikibahagi, ang ambitanay or sharing.”

  And indeed, the first sharing was the coming together of so many saintly statues into one place, a meeting of saints as well as of boats! Amidst the shuffle of several hundred devotees of the saints, the multi-colored santos began to form a pantheon in the tiny church of St Nicolas, a short walk from the fishing port.

The very names of the saints, all in Spanish, and the sight of them being carried in procession to  the church could not help but bring to mind the old Spanish origins of these saints and the cults that grew around them over the centuries.  In that regard, perhaps little has changed, but fishermen today, especially after Super Typhoon Yolanda, face new problems of regular and consistent catch, cold storage and transportation to markets.