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The people of Leyte are divided into two main groups, primarily by language. In the west and south are the Cebuanos, while in the north and east are the Waray-waray.
The Cebuanos have ties with Cebu, the most populous province in the Visayas; the Warays are more tied to Leyte and Samar.
TANAUAN MUNICIPAL CULTURAL EVENTS
There is a yearly town festival held at Tanauaun Poblacion from the 14th to the 16th of August, commencing from the Canramos area on the 14th, Licud on the 15th and San Roque on the 16th. During the 15th of August there is a big festivity held at the town centre that includes all elementary and highschool students dressed in colourful custumes performing dances and routines that follows a street parade around the municipality. The festival is called "Pasaka" which is a waray word meaning invitation to progress/health/luck for the inhabitants for the coming year.
The festival is so popular and so merry that it even encourages expatriats to visit during this time of festivity. The festivity also invites people from anywhere who wish to join and enjoy the festivity and are all welcomed by the locals in their own homes regardless of whether they know them or not.
Balikbayans, a colloquial word that describes former residents who migrated overseas, also finds it interesting and exciting to visit or have a holiday to the town during this time of the year. Tanauan have a great diversity of "balikbayans" coming from all around the world. This occurence has never been more evident than the festival during the year 1998, where the yearly beauty pageant being held during the fiesta as part of the cultural activities were joined in by young candidates who were children by former local residents but who have been living overseas for many years. The young beauties came from Australia and USA who were there on a long holiday, the main purpose of which was to learn the original culture of their parents. These two young beauties ended up the winner and the first runner up. The winner and who was crowned Miss Tanauan at that time was Jetheth, a daughter of two former Filipino residents, who are now Australians citizens. She is a kayumangi(natural tan complexion) beauty who was born in the Philippines but migrated to Sydney - Australia when she was just 4 years old. The first runner-up was also a daughter of former filipino residents who have lived in USA for many years. This young beauty also holds US citizenship. Both girls joined for fun and excitement and both had the time of their lives.
Regular balikbayans to the town during the festival are from all parts of the world, however the most regular ones are from Australia. There is a "Balikbayan group" that is always in the process of organising cultural and social events to encourage more balikbayans into the town to help pumped-up the town's tourism objectives, thus help the town's economy. The best local contact for them are well known Tanauan residents by the names of Rolly, Jerry and Jun Albao who all lived in Canramos.
Helpful suggestions, bright ideas and most importantly feedback from overseas Tanauananons are very much needed and encouraged to assist in the success of the above cultural and social undertaking to help the tourism objective of the town, that is in urgent need of support and local income boost. Immediate contact can be made to the Balikbayan organiser, Gina Buraga on email address: gburaga@hotmail.com or tel no 61 2 418493322
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "People and Culture", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
