Unveiling the gems of Vigan City

            Vigan is a city known for its consistent preservation of the Hispanic Colonization and where many cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, China, and Mexico are reflected on its townscape. With its architectures, this town still carries its diverse and impactful history that dates back to 1572. What makes Vigan City unique are the cobblestones on the streets, the kalesas, tourist spots, and foods that depicts the fusion of Asian and European colonial character. The city can be considered as a place of memorabilias, considering its well-kept memories through its preserved structures and traditions. The place stores the memories of the late heroes and our dear ancestors. Rumors has it that to travel Vigan is to antecede the life they had before, how it used to be. All of this is truly tempting , as a traveler, it is my honor and pleasure to take the risk and unveil the gems of Vigan City. 

            To make my journey in Vigan City truly remarkable and unforgettable like the city itself, I             say why not visit during the time of its fiesta? 

        The fiesta of Vigan City is held every 25th of January. It is celebrated during the feast day of the conversion of the patron saint of Vigan City — St. Paul the Apostle.

        During the week-long celebration, a food festival  located just beside the St.Paul Cathedral is  there throughout the week of fiesta. Inside the food festival, a variety of food from different local bigueno business are being sold in their respective food stalls. Meals that has chicken inasal, longanissa, sisig, mami noodles, liempo as its dish, japanese foods like ramen and teppanyaki, some mexican food like tacos , middle eastern foods like shawarma, fingerfoods and streetfoods, beverages and pastries, are the kind of foods that I had encounter in the vigan food festival sold in an affordable price. 

Throughout my visit, I had been informed that there will be 2 kinds of parade that will be conducted during the week-long celebration of the fiesta. The education day institutional parade-marching band competition foot parade and the grand parade. 

        The education day institutional parade-Marching band competition foot parade is conducted mainly for the celebration of the Education Day on the 20th of January and the competition between the marching band from different schools that are based around Vigan City. On this parade, teachers from different schools based around Vigan City had participated in the parade together with the marching band. The marching bands (elementary category) showcased their astounding musics along with their dance and tricks.

        Aside from the foot parade, a marching band showdown competition had also conducted and took place at Plaza Burgos. Three high schools that are Vigan-based participated in this competition had different costumes
and were completely vary from each other. The competition is only for the High Schoolers.

Longanissa Festival was also celebrated in Street Dancing and in Showdown. The dancers wore costumes that have the essence of the Vigan Longanissa which made the competition more intresting. During the routines or their performances, the dancers mostly, if not at all times, bring up San Pablo (St. Paul) — the Patron Saint. They had commemorate St. Paul and the Longanissa in a such artistic and unique manner. 

        To wrap up the fiesta, the grand parade, which consists the City Mayor, Provincial Governer, businesses in Vigan City, schools that are based in Vigan, the winners of the following marching band competitions, the officers and authorities of Vigan City.

        Overall, the whole week of celebrating the fiesta is filled of joy. The people of Vigan City indeed outdid themselves throughout the week-long celebration, from the ones who participated in such competitions to the audience who patiently watched all of it.