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Here’s our story on the Karakol Festival of Talisay, Batangas. We went there February 8, 2011 to witness this festival for the first time.
We traveled all the way to Talisay, first, to witness the Karakol – a religious event held annually to commemorate San Guillermo – the patron saint of the town.
Karakol, as described by the locals is a “sayaw sa patron” (dance to the patron). The elders of Talisay would dance on the streets around town to show their devotion to San Guillermo. The karakol was originally participated by the elder people of Talisay. Later on, women federation from different barangays joined the senior citizens in this religious street dancing.
They have this “daang prusisyon”, or the way where the street dancers would go around. The karakol participants dance to folk and foreign novelty music. Talisay Councilor Eddie Panghulan even composed a Tagalog lyrics of the song Dayang-Dayang whose lines are all in praise of the patron saint and called it “Alay kay San Guillermo”.
Devotees from neighboring towns and even from Cavite have been joining the karakol in Talisay and treat it as their “panata”. There were around 20 groups representing different barangays and organizations of Talisay and non-Talisayeños wherein the largest group was composed of 60 members.
San Guillermo was told to be a son of a duke. He was a believed to be a spoiled brat who did harm to other people. Until he decided to live inside a cave, clad himself with metal wardrobe and there he had his repentance. He came out as a new person since then. The icon of San Guillermo shows a skull on top of a bible. The skull represents the death of his old self.
Last Updated: September 8, 2013
