Panagbenga 2009 - IMG 0613 (Lolay) - Flickr

Panagbenga, SM Baguio Float (Rhedee) - Flickr

Panagbenga Festival () is a month-long annual flower occasion in

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

. The term is of Kankanaey origin, meaning "season of blooming". The festival, held in February, was created as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise from the devastation of the

1990 Luzon earthquake The 1990 Luzon earthquake struck the island of Luzon in the Philippines at 4:26 p.m. on July 16 ( PDT) or 3:26 p.m. ( PST) with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent'') and produced a 1 ...

. The festival includes floats that are covered mostly with flowers, not unlike those used in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...

. The festival also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, that is inspired by the Bendian, an

Ibaloi The Ibaloi (also spelled Ibaloy; Ibaloi language, Ibaloi: ''ivadoy'', ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Philippines, indigenous ethnic group found in Benguet Province of the northern Philippines. ''Ibaloi'' is derived from ''i-'', a prefix sign ...

dance of celebration that came from the

Cordilleras A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly us ...

. The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), in collaboration with he John Hay Poro Point Development Corporation's (JPDC) annual Camp John Hay Art Contest, gave its official logo from one of the entries: a spray of indigenous sunflowers from an artwork submitted by Trisha Tabangin, a student of the Baguio City National High School. The festival was set in February to boost tourism as it was considered as a time of inactivity between the busy days of

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novembe ...

and the

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

and the summer season. In 1996, archivist and curator Ike Picpican suggested that the festival be renamed Panagbenga, a Kankanaey term that means "a season of blossoming, a time for flowering". In February 2020, the festival was initially postponed due to the threat of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it was later then canceled in March 2020. The festival was later cancelled again in 2021, citing the severity of the Pandemic in the city. The funds on both cancelled events were diverted to the health situation. On March 6, 2022, the festival returned after the last 2 years of cancellation due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, but with limited events due to the ongoing crisis, and the events were exclusively funded by private companies and organisation donors, as government funds was diverted towards COVID health situation.

Activities

The month-long festival starts at the first day of the month of February, with opening activities organized by the city government and the private sector. Many activities are also celebrated throughout the month such as a landscape competition and cultural shows but the most crowd-generating events are in the last week of the festival which is the Street Dancing and Float Parade. After the parade,

Session Road Session Road is a six-lane major road in Baguio, Philippines. The entire road forms part of the National Route 231 (N231) of the Philippine highway network. Route description Session Road is the main thoroughfare of Baguio in the Philippines an ...

is closed for a week for the Session Road in Bloom activity which hosts a huge variety of stalls showcasing products locally and from other provinces.

References

External links

Official website of Baguio

Official website Panagbenga Festival
{{coord missing, Philippines Festivals in the Philippines Tourist attractions in Baguio Culture of Benguet Flower festivals in the Philippines