Kawayan Festival (officially known as Abrenio Kawayan Festival) is Abra's greatest festival coinciding with the foundation day of the province.
It showcases the arts, craft and diverse culture of the province. It primarily highlights the kawayan (bamboo) which grows abundantly in the province. Kawayan is then used by the Abrenios as a raw material in creating indigenous crafts and local products.
But what I am going to highlight today is not about this kawayan, sorry for that. Because Kawayan Festival is not at all about the kawayan, there are also other activities that are worth watching for. As for me, I was able to watch the TERNO FASHION SHOW. It is not your ordinary fashion show because this event features Terno gowns with a twist. This twist is about mixing the Tinguian elements in some of the dresses making it authentically Abra-inspired, not to mention that the fabric used are Abra-made So let's take a look what happened that day by viewing some of my [trashy] photos.
This Abra-inspired fashion show was held at the Abra Provincial Grandstand Gymnasium in Bangued town. The models were the beautiful women of Abra themselves coming from different age groups (from teens to senior citizens) who came to represent their own town. These women all walked down the stage to showcase the beauty of their culture, arts and crafts.
Most of the fabrics used were locally made from Bulbulala, a loom-weaving village in La Paz town of the same province. The village is among the last villages in Ilocos-Abra area that have local weavers of Abel, an Ilocano woven fabric.
The presence of Abel-weavers in Abra also shows the strong presence of the Ilocano culture. The Ilocanos share a space with the Tinguian tribesmen in the province.
The event was opened with lovely Ilocano love songs sung by an Abrenio choir.
Don't think I am now shifting from travel blogging to fashion blogging, LOLS! I blogged this because I believe this event is an inherent part of the Abrenian culture and the Kawayan Festival. Indeed a must-see event in Abra. /end
Bangued #TownExploration Series
Map Showing the Location of #Bangued
did they weave the dresses that they modeled? or do they also weave different products, like purses, jewelry, etc? showcase their product on here in a marketplace way...
ReplyDeletefifileigh | Yes fifi, these are locally woven :) They also do accessories :)
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