NEWSFLASH

Santiago City, July 30, 2000 ­ Santiago City has just finished celebrating the feast in honor of their patron, Saint James the Greater, with the revival of the traditional dance of Santiagueño natives known as Gozos.

City Mayor Amelita Navarro led tens of thousands of revelers in the five-day festivity that started July 21. Highlight of the fiesta was a parade of more than a hundred hand-painted live carabaos, the first of its kind to be held in Cagayan Valley.

The parade was a tribute to the farm animals by farmers of this predominantly agricultural city greatly depending on the carabaos for their livelihood.

Navarro said the staging of the Gozos was intended to relive the past of the city’s rich history and culture, and to bring back the memory of the sacredness of the dance during Spanish times.

The Gozos, which is unique to the Santiagueños, is performed by devout Ybanag people, the indigenes of the place, after a procession or “enthronement” of the image of Saint James around the community.

As part of the San­tiagueños’ rich tradition and culture, the Gozos tradition is one that has to be perpetuated and enriched like the more popular Ati-atihan of Kalibo in Aklan and the Moriones Festival in Marinduque, Navarro told The Manila Times.