Batangueños Show Faith and Rhythm in Sublian Festival

The Sublian Festival in Batangas City is thus far the grandest annual festivity in the province of Batangas. Mainly religious in origin, the highlight of the two-week-long celebration is the subli dance, a worship dance of the Holy Cross.

Sublian, founded in 1988 by then-Mayor Eduardo Dimacuha, is now in its 34th year with the theme Sublian Festival: May Panibagong Sigla! Its culminating celebration is every July 23 to coincide with the city’s founding anniversary. Sublian brought life and color to the traditional cityhood celebration and resurrected the cultural and religious acts among Batagueños. This year, Batangas City is celebrating its 53rd year of cityhood.

Sublian came from the word subli, a combination of the words subsub, which means falling of head, or being in a stooped or crouching position, and bali, which means broken or bent. Subli is a worship dance dedicated to and for the Holy Cross. Whereas Batangas City celebrates the Sublian festival every July, Bauan and Agoncillo do so in May. It is a celebration of the discovery of the Holy Cross in Alitagtag, a town in the Batangas province during the Spanish time. The Spanish missionaries first came to Batangas in 1572. The dance derives from devotion to the Sto.Nino and Holy Cross in Batangas City, Bauan and Agoncillo.

This celebration showcases components of Filipino culture that usually do not go beyond school book knowledge. The celebration has evolved to more than about the subli dance as it also features the traditional Sublian Festival costume for harana (serenade), lupakan (making and sharing of a delicacy called nilupak), sayawan (dancing), and awitan (singing), among others.

The traditional subli is a fixed sequence of prayers in verse, songs, and dances performed with drums. The movements in the dance are prominent. The male dancers leap and strike the ground with their kalaste, or bamboo or wooden clappers similar to Spanish castanets. The female dancers, dressed in small-brimmed hats and alampay (scarf) loosely worn over the shoulder, are on half-toe in graceful wrists and finger movements.

Harana or serenade is a form of courtship where men woo maidens by singing love songs by the window at night. In Sublian Festival in Batangas, harana happens in the house of the chosen Ms. Batangas Foundation Day.

Lupakan is the making and sharing of a snack called nilupak held in the house of the lupakan host (the one sponsoring the lupakan). Lupakan was a traditional bonding activity long before videoke singing, hanging out in cafes, and malling became popular pastimes. In lupakan, friends (usually male and female) partner in mixing and pounding the nilupak. Nilupak is a local delicacy and traditional Filipino merienda (snack) favorite, which is made either from saba (a variety of bananas) or kamoteng kahoy (cassava). Margarine, condensed milk, and banana or cassava are mixed by smashing in a large mortar (lusong or bayuhan) using a pestle (pambayo). For this year, Sublian Festival's lupakan is held at the patio of Basilica de Immaculada Concepcion.

The celebration will conclude on July 23 with a thanksgiving mass at Batangas City Convention Center, followed by the singing of the National Anthem, pledge of allegiance to the Philippine Flag, and floral offering at Plaza Mabini, also known as People’s Park, by Mayor Beverly Dimacuha, and Ms. Batangas City Foundation Day 2016 Jewel Mari Beredo.

The Sublian Festival in Batangas will culminate with the parade of the Holy Cross (Sta. Cruz) and Sto. Niño in Basilica de Immaculada Concepcion. Government employees, non-governmental organizations, schools, socio-civic organizations, the private sector, and interested groups dressed in native costumes with subli hats. The Sublian parade is traditionally held on the main roads, beginning at the SM Hypermarket and ending at Batangas City Hall.

After the parade, the Holy Cross and Sto. Niño will be returned to Basilica de Immaculada Concepcion and followed by the Patimpalak sa Sublian (Sublian Contest)in the afternoon.

Before the July 23 Sublian Festival, other activities took place. One of them was the Papuan ng Lungsod ng Batangas, where devotees from the seven parishes gathered to pay homage to the patron saints through lua (religious declamation), dalit (religious poems), prayers like Oratio Imperata and songs such as Rosario Cantada, Also held was street clean up, Sayaw Sigaw Pangkalikasan or environmental cheer dance competition; and Low Emission Development Strategies or LEDS Eco-Camp advocates and enthusiasts. There were entertainment events here wearing their Sublian Festival costume like in Harana at the house of Ms. Batangas City Foundation Day; Patimpalak kay Apolinario Mabini (contest for Apolinario Mabini) Batangueño war hero, to commemorate his 152nd birthday on July 22; Patimpalak sa Katutubong Awit (Contest on Native or Kundiman songs); and Patimpalak sa Katutubong Sayaw (Contest on Native Dances) featuring Jota Batangueña or Alitaptap dance, and Jota Rizal.

Wondering what else to do while attending Sublian Festival in Batangas??

Batangas City is a one-and-one-half-hour drive from Manila through the Alabang-Calamba-Sto. Tomas Expressway (ACTEX) and Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR). However, it is a two-hour drive through the old inter-town route. It is also accessible and convenient to commuters as most buses take the ACTEX and STAR routes.

Batangas City tour is achievable in a single day because worth seeing sites are close together. While in the city, you can check out Basilica de Immaculada Concepcion, known for its Renaissance-inspired architecture, parks such as Plaza Mabini and Laurel Parks, the Batangas Provincial Capitol, and the Acosta-Pastor, Rosales-Borbon, and Babasa ancestral houses found in the side streets of the city.

It is a must to explore the beaches on Isla Verde. This beach is accessible by boat if the weather permits. For a panoramic view of the city and Batangas Bay, Mt. Banoy and Matoco Point in Barangay Pagkilatan are the places to visit.

A trip to Batangas City would be incomplete without tasting the signature dishes like Bulalo (bone marrow soup with beef shank), Lomi (thick egg noodle soup), and Gotong Batangas (tripe and innards soup). These are widely available, and most restaurants in the city serve them. For the mentioned dishes, the following restaurants are the most popular and frequented by both locals and tourists: Irene’s Bulalosa Kubo (Alangilan, Batangas City), Tia Ila’s Lomilicious (Pallocan West, Batangas City); Mega Lomiaus (Mega Heights Subdivision, Alangilan, Batangas City); Enya’s Lomi at (Vergara St., Poblacion, Batangas City); MGM Lomi (Pallocan West, in front of Days Hotel near SM City Batangas); Megalicious (Balagtas, Batangas, near SM Hypermart); Emjaykas (Balagtas, Batangas, near SM Hypermart); and Jhorjanes (Balagtas, Batangas City, near the very end of the Batangas exit of the Star Tollway, and Bolbok, Batangas City, the other in front of the Batangas Sports Complex).