LANZONES FESTIVAL

 

Lanzones Festival is an annual thanksgiving celebration for

Camiguin Island's bountiful harvest. The town of Mambajao

holds the feast during the third week of October, in time for

 the season of the tropical fruit lanzones. The province of

Camiguin is known for having the sweetest lanzones among the

 abundant sources of the fruit along the north-central coast

 of Mindanao. The locals and tourists enjoy this weeklong

 celebration with a line-up of activities showcasing the

 richness culture in Camiguin like street dancing, grand lanzones

 parade, agri-cottage industry products exhibits, and beauty

 pageants. Aside from this, the people also await the annual

 barangay beautification contest, indigenous sports, and

 tableau of local culture within the week.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is believed that the celebration started with the local legend

 about a childless couple who wished for a child from a lanzones

 tree fairy. The fairy granted them a healthy baby boy but the

couple forgot to thank her. One day, a suspicious-looking woman

approached their child while he was playing. The boy suddenly

 fell unconscious. His parents thought that it was the lanzones

fairy who had enchanted the boy. The couple decided to perform

 a ritual to appease the fairy and, sure enough, the child became

well again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lanzones Festival is held every third week of October and it is a four

day grand celebration of the lanzones fruit. The most important

livelihood in Camiguin is lanzones. It is when a lot of tourists come to

 witness the joyous Lanzones festival. Lanzones is one of the major fruit

 producers in the Philippines. Lanzones is a tropical fruit that grows

extravagantly on the north-central coast of Mindanao. Lanzones has

 a pale brown skin and sweet translucent flesh. It is said that the

 sweetest lanzones in the Philippines comes from Camiguin. The town

of Mambajao in Camiguin celebrated its annual festival called

Lanzones Festival together with its harvest in the month of October.

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lanzones Festival in Mambadjao Camiguin is celebrated

with a weekend street dancing competition and parties,

cultural shows, parade and beauty pageant

(coronation of Mutya sa Buahanan) and trade fair

that features local handicraft and products. Houses,

 street poles and even people are ornamented

with lanzones during the lanzones festival.

 According to the legend of an unknown

beautiful maiden took the fruit’s past bitter

flavor to replace it to delicious and sweet taste

of the lanzones, thus townsfolk dance in the

streets in order to honor and celebrate.

 It also celebrated by the people in Camiguin

 as a contribution in making Mindanao as a

 cultural tourism destination and give

 thanks for a bountiful harvest for all the

 agricultural products.