Unveiling the Magic of Anahaw Leaf During Our Humble Fiesta Celebration

One quality I love about being a Filipino is resourcefulness. Yes, being resourceful while having some dash of collaboration and creativity. In this blog, I would like to share with you guys a spontaneous DIY we did during our fiesta celebration on September 8, 2023, in our little sitio.

Fiesta is a Spanish term that means feast, a religious event that unites people living in a certain place to honor a patron saint. Additionally, a sitio is a territorial outpost that is a component of a barangay.

Our fiesta is not a luxurious type of celebration. We're located in a secluded area, and given that everything there is so simple, We do just simple celebrations during special events and occasions, but they'll always end very happy and unforgettable. It's part of our tradition and culture to celebrate the fiesta during September, and we have this activity wherein women come up on stage with an escort. There will be three categories, specifically the baby, lady, and mother queen, and the rest will take up the first and second runner-up. They would come up on stage together with their pair for a coronation. With that being said, there's a need to prepare for the stage.

Our little and humble sitio has been doing this every year, and as usual, we would help each other hand in hand with all the preparations for the entire event. In our own little ways, we always managed to make it successful. However, this past fiesta, it's already afternoon, when we noticed that there were still no stage decorations. Mostly, the coronation would start at 8 p.m., and it somehow concerned us knowing that time runs just too fast. Luckily, we have asked what resources are available for decorating the stage and found out that it'll be just fabric and tarpaulin. So we, teenagers, along with my three cousins and one neighbor, had made an immediate plan on what to do, knowing that we're almost running out of time.

So the agreed plan was to get anahaw leaves for stage ornaments. On our initial plans, we also considered the time and possible expenses, until we finally bumped into the decision of using anahaw leaves since it would be time- and cost-saving.

Source

Photo from Pinterest by Wanessa Jubé
This is what anahaw leaves look like. I wasn't able to take photos during our actual collection of the leaves since we've been hurrying up. We haven't found such leaves in our own place, that's why we went to the neighboring barangay and asked the residents there if they had found any. It's in the small forest, and we've been provided directions. No worries since it's just near our place, so we are somehow familiar with it.

Anahaw is actually the national leaf of the Philippines. It was considered one of the national symbols of the Philippines since anahaw has been one of the primary sources of Filipino ancestors when it comes to walls and roofs for their shelters. Not just that, it's also used in the creation of various crafts and artwork. Overall, the anahaw leaf symbolizes creativity and resourcefulness.

After that, we cut the leaves into our desired shape and bought two gold sprays to color them. Having limited time as well as resources, we haven't expected something spectacular, but with the final output, we're so happy that we were able to make the stage look good enough for the coronation night.

All in all, that was such a wonderful experience for us. We have made something out of a simple leaf, like making something extraordinary out of the ordinary. It was heartwarming and overwhelming at the same time, and it actually served as a quality time of bonding with my cousins as well. All I can say is that with some sprinkles of resourcefulness, creativity, and collaboration, you can work well on something worthwhile.

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Thank you so much, dear Hivers, for reading. I hope you are all doing well. Catch you on my next blog! (⁠✿⁠ ⁠♡⁠‿⁠♡⁠)