There’s more to Anyanian ed Bayambang 2016 aside from the Children’s Halloween Party in the morning, because the latter part of the day was reserved for the adults.
Owing to Halloween having some Christian roots in combination with pagan tradition, the afternoon affair was opened with a mass at 3:00 pm celebrated by Fr. Allen Romero, also at the Covered Court. In his homily, he reminded attendees that, despite the horrifying décor around the venue, “we should not be scared of death; after all, death is not the end, but just a door to life everlasting.”
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Right after, the senior members of the community started the revival of the “Taotaoag” tradition (see separate story). Six houses of prominent Bayambangueños around the Poblacion area were visited by the delegation.
Back at the Covered Court at 6 PM, it was an evening of all things spooky in the spirit of Halloween fun. First, there was a showing of Conjuring 2, which was open to the public. It was quite well-attended.
After that, it was party time. Municipal Administrator Atty. Raj Sagarino manned the free pica-pica and punch booth, while a longish queue quickly formed. She also did the rounds of facilitating ‘Pinoy Henyo’ and ‘Bring Me’ games, aided by Paolo Castillo of ICT Department and Valentine Garcia of MPDC. The winners received loot bags.
Another well-received gimmick was the challenge to try the rented coffin for fitting, for P200. Eight contestants obliged at different points in time, while nervous laughter from the audience punctuated each attempt.
The adults also had their own version of Best in Costume contest. A young man who came as a one-eyed monster won first prize. He received P2,000 in cash prize for his effort. The second prize (P1,500) went to Valak, the evil nun from the movie Conjuring 2. (Surprise! It was none other than the chair of the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs, Iluminada Mabanglo.) The third prize (P1,000) went to someone who came as a black lady. A number of other entries also received a consolation prize of P500 each.
All the while, the LGU Band provided the music, playing rock songs one after another, while the crowd danced the spooky night away. (Bayambang PIO/Media Affairs)