The Babaylan Festival

Eunice Gapit, Mae Ann Aguirre, Christine Mae Minion,

Eulene Mae Verano, Irene Joy Villanueva,
Theresa Jennifer Mendoza*
*[email protected]
La Consolacion College Bacolod

Abstract
The study looked into the festival’s origin, concepts,
experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. To gather data, we
conducted series of interviews with the cultural officer of Bago
City, who had the best experience in handling the said festival.
Seven themes emerged from the study. These are the main role of
the healer, the festival’s concept, the festival’s celebration, the
festival’s origin, challenges and difficulties encountered, cultural
beliefs and rituals, and the festival’s promotional strategies. Best
practices of the city in managing the festival are affirmed in this
study. Areas for improvement were also identified.

Keywords: tourism, festival, narrative inquiry, individual

interview, Philippines

Introduction

Festivals are an essential sub-field within event studies

and of particular interest to scholars in various disciplines
because of the universality of festivity and the popularity of
festival experiences (Getz, 2010). Festival is a way to bring about
cultural awareness among community members and hand over
traditions by sharing stories and experiences from one generation
to the next (Quinn, 2010). Festivals are cultural celebrations and
have always occupied a special place in societies. Their
celebratory roles, and the many cultural and social implications
of ritual and festivity, have long attracted the interest of
sociologists and anthropologists (Getz, 2010). Cultural events
help foster cross-cultural communication that can promote
understanding between the host and the guest (Sdrali and
Chazapi, 2007).

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 Festivals attract tourists and create festival tourism.
Tourists are attracted by many elements, which seem interesting,
sometimes foreign culture, presented during the events (Quinn,
2010). Festivals have increasingly become an important source of
income for many individuals. According to Cudny (2006),
tourism, where the main motive is the participation in cultural
events, such as film, theatre, music, street festivals, or other
entertainment, fun, and sport, should be considered separately
and referred to as festival tourism. At the peak of a festivals’
popularity, these are attended by several dozen to several
thousand people; it comprised several dozen art events held
during the week and was an ideal place of contact with culture,
including high culture (Cudny, 2006).

“Festival tourism” is an essential element in “event

tourism,” so much so that the term “festivalization” has been
coined to suggest an over-commodification of festivals exploited
by tourism and place marketers (Quinn, 2006). It is particularly
true of festival settings that provide a context for social
relationships and shared experiences (Kyle and Chick, 2007). It is
reported that festivals contribute to the local regeneration and
prosperity of the destination. Festivals can generate new
employment opportunities (Prentice and Andersen, 2003a; Smith,
2004). It encourages the development of a kind of infrastructure
that is visitor-friendly and sustainable. Bachleitner and Zins
(1992) assert that festival tourism enhances residents learning,
awareness appreciation of community pride, ethnic identity,
tolerance of others, and brings about the opening of small and
medium-sized family enterprises.

Cultural festivals are perceived to attract revenue and

expenditure linked to cultural tourism and contribute to the
development of the local economy and the improvement of the
city’s image (Richards and Wilson, 2004). Festivals show common
characteristics, namely, production and cultural experience,
resulting from a condensed program planned with a specific
purpose in mind (McKercher et al., 2006). For festivals to
perform their functions better, organizers often have to adjust
their offer to the needs of their audiences, mainly tourists.

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Festivals attract tourists and create festival tourism. Tourists are
attracted by many elements, which seem interesting, sometimes
exotic, presented during the events (Quinn, 2010). Authenticity is
achieved by meeting visitors’ expectations about how a place
looks and feels (Prentice and Andersen, 2003a). However, festivals
may cause a false reception of the local culture because it is
trivialized and adjusted to the tastes of the mass audience.

The value of a cultural festival may be approached from

various standpoints (Devesa, 2006) since the artists are directly
involved. It constitutes the production of a cultural good in itself.
In contrast, for those attending, it may provide a range of use-
values (aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, cognitive value, etc.),
as well as existence value related to its symbolic repercussion
(Throsby, 2003). These use-values led to a festivalization of cities
(Prentice and Andersen, 2003b; Quinn, 2006), as a process
involving the creation of cultural experiences aimed at potential
tourists, drawn by the culture, and at residents, for whom these
festivals offer an alternative urban leisure facility and an
opportunity to identify with the city (Richards, 2007).

Thus, many cultural festivals are held in summer or

during holiday periods, becoming important tourist attractions
and satisfying individuals’ desire for leisure and cultural
consumption (Yeoman et al., 2004). Moreover, finding out who
benefits from an artistic activity may prove vital when designing
promotion strategies, advertising, and management of cultural
activities (Pizano, Zuleta, Jaramillo, & Rey, 2004).

For over three decades, the festival has been promoted to

help develop local communities and meet their social,
environmental, and economic needs by offering a tourism
product. However, while many projects have been funded, their
success has not been widely monitored, and, therefore, the actual
benefits to local communities remain largely unquantified (DOT,
2008). There are festivals in almost all cities and municipalities
in the Philippines. We wanted to vividly describe the how’s and
why’s of one of these festivals known as the Babaylan Festival.

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Objective
The study sought to describe the Babaylan Festival in
Bago City, Negros Occidental, Philippines.

Framework of the study

Prentice and Andersen (2003) opined that not everyone at
a destination during a festival could be assumed to be a festival-
goer. With this, they suggest to festival organizers not to be
overly enthusiastic about the drawing power of festivals.
Importantly, they caution that all festival attendees are motivated
to visit the destination to participate in the festival. Instead, they
suggest that festivals, like other attractions, attract a broad
spectrum of visitors, from those who traveled specifically to
participate in the event to those for whom it represents an
ancillary or complementary activity. Indeed, festival and special
event organizers themselves often question their economic value
(Gursoy et al., 2004), with many viewing the festival not as a
money-making tourist attraction but as an enjoyable community-
based event (de Bres & Davis, 2001).
Research trends and themes have been revealed, and
three significant discourses have been identified and described.
The structure for the review was provided by a framework for
understanding and creating knowledge about events (Getz, et al.
2007) that places planned festival experiences and meanings as
the core phenomenon of festival studies.
Festivals celebrate community values, ideologies, identity,
and continuity. Perhaps more reflective of the modern approach
to naming events as festivals Getz (2005) defined them as
“themed, public celebrations.” Events and festivals do not only
influence the development of tourist places.
In the Philippines, each town or city has its distinct
festival to establish a name and identity. It is the time to draw
both local and foreign tourists to one’s place. Among the festivals
in Negros Occidental, one such celebration is the Babaylan
Festival in Bago City. It is a culture-related event. It is rooted in
culture, shapes, and presents it. Babaylans acted as healers,
prophets, and mediums, curing illnesses and exorcising evil
spirits from objects or people, and before, they are known as the

4
most intelligent individuals in the community. It is in this
context that the Babaylan Festival, which is a cultural festival,
was conceptualized. It is a time of celebrating culture (Cudny,
2014). It is closely connected with the development of human
civilization, which dates back to humankind's historical roots
(Klein and Blake, 2002).
Festivals provide opportunities to learn about other
cultures, customs, and lifestyles, which encourages greater
understanding of and tolerance for cultural diversity (Douglas et
al., 2001). While sustainability might sound like a global “ideal
that has evolved to become the buzzword for a new era” (Roosa,
2010), it is instead formulated and effectively performed at the
local scale, within particular contexts and drawing upon those
contextual values. Roosa’s study aimed to advance our
understanding and expand and redefine the concept of
“sustainability” for the specific context of the contemporary
performing arts festival and eventually elaborate a proper
conceptual framework for the “sustainable” festival.
According to our conversational partner, Babaylan
Festival is known because of its history and culture. Babaylans
are gifted to heal the spirit and body of a person. Rituals can be a
strategic way to 'traditionalize,' that is, to construct a type of
tradition. Still, in doing so, it can also challenge and renegotiate
the very basis of practice to the point of upending much of what
had been seen as fixed previously or by other groups (Bell, 2009).
For its role, Babaylans are sometimes described as
priestesses or shamans. According to Aping (2016), they “come
from either spiritist groups, diviners (a group that practice
divination). They may also be persons who were previously saved
from illnesses or death. Also, they may have encountered
epiphanies or mystical experiences who became convinced that
they were destined to help sick people after receiving healing
powers bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit or other
supernatural beings.” Saydoven (2009) defines "Traditional
medicine also known as indigenous health knowledge and
practices include approaches, knowledge, and beliefs
incorporating plants, animal and mineral-based medicines.
Healing by diviners may also be spiritual therapies, manual
techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to

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maintain well-being, as well as a treat, diagnose or prevent
illness".
People who attended and witnessed Babaylan Festival can
understand the meaning of the festival. They have an idea of why
it is celebrated and commemorated. In addition, from an
intangible perspective, successful festivals can serve as a means
of building community pride and cohesiveness (Gursoy, Kim, and
Uysal, 2004). It also promotes sustainable development by
teaching about unique cultural heritages, ethnic backgrounds,
and local customs (McKercher, Mei, and Tse, 2006).
As to the festival’s challenges and difficulties, the shortage
of budget is one reason. While festivals have a considerable
potential to be artistically innovative and economically successful,
there is a constant danger that government intervention
undermines this potential by introducing distorting incentives
and imposing all sorts of restrictions (Frey, 2000).

Themes:
1. Festival’s Origin
2. Festival’s Concept
3. Cultural Beliefs and
Rituals
Cultural 4. The Main Role of the
THE
Officer
BABAYLAN Healer
FESTIVAL (Festival
Organizer) 5. Festival’s Celebration
IN BAGO
CITY 6. Challenges and
Difficulties Encountered
7. Festival’s Promotional
Strategies

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram

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 Babaylan Festival is known in other cities and regions
because of promotions and feedback from those experienced.
Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) promote local
cultural festivals as tourism attractions (Felsenstein & Fleischer,
2003), for they are felt to possess attributes that make them
appealing to visitors. Celebrations must also focus on
perpetuating local traditions, promoting creativity among
entertainers, tourists, locals (Wilks, 2009), and encouraging
interaction and involvement across the entire industry (Smith &
Richards, 2013).
Festivals influence communities through cultural
development, tourism development, community integration, city-
image improvement, and economic development. For festivals to
have these beneficial results, marketing must be strategically
planned and implemented through festival programs. Getz (2008)
pointed out that ‘event management is a fast-growing professional
field where tourists constitute a potential market for planned
events. The tourism industry has become a vital stakeholder in
the success and attractiveness of such events. Therefore, the
unique benefits of festivals can be communicated to prospects to
create and increase the demand. On the other hand, tourists who
travel to a particular destination to attend a specific event should
directly determine the concept of event marketing and indirectly
define destination marketing.

Methodology

Research Design

The study centered on how the Babaylan Festival is

celebrated. The qualitative research using narrative inquiry was
employed to narrate how the organizing committee works behind
the traditional festival in Bago City to stage a significant
celebration and how selected guests describe their experience
during the festivities. Qualitative research is concerned with
developing explanations of social phenomena (Hancock, 2006). It
aims to help people understand the social world and why things
are the way they are. It is concerned with the social aspects of the
world and seeks to answer questions like why people go and

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patronize specific festivities and what kind of experience is
derived from it.

Conversation Partner and Inclusion Criteria

In this study, the selected conversation partner was the

cultural officer of Bago City, who had a rich experience and
knows everything about the said festival. The conversation
partner provided the exact information about the celebration of
the Babaylan Festival, which is celebrated annually.

The gatekeeper of the researcher’s conversational partner

was the head of the Tourism Office of Bago City, Senior Tourism
Operations Officer. Central elements of access are gatekeepers.
These people can help or hinder research depending upon their
thoughts on the validity of the research and its value and
approach to the people's welfare under their charge. They may be
internal and external gatekeepers for a study (Ortiz, 2004). The
researchers referred only to an internal gatekeeper.

Research Instrument

The researchers used a voice recorder and field notes

during the conduct of interviews with the conversation partner.
The first/overarching question was based on the objective of the
study. Follow-up questions were based on the responses of the
conversation partner. The interview focused on the celebration of
the Babaylan Festival.

Data-Gathering Procedure

The researchers coordinated with the Department of

Tourism of Bago City to gather pertinent data about the study at
hand. The researchers were then introduced to the cultural officer
with whom a series of interviews were conducted until data was
saturated. A series of interviews were conducted in the City
Tourism Office. The researchers used a voice recorder to ensure
that the collected data were recorded, safe, and secured.

Trustworthiness (Ensuring the Quality of the Findings)

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 Credibility. Credibility has been understood as one of the
criteria of relevance judgment used when deciding to accept or
reject retrieved information (Rieh & Danielson, 2007). Credibility
relies on definitions, approaches, and field-specific
presuppositions (Flanagin & Metzger, 2007). To ensure that the
findings have credibility, the researchers used member checks.
The conversation partner was requested to edit, clarify, elaborate,
or delete his own words from the narratives and the initial themes
(Creswell, 2009; Doyle, 2007).
Transferability. Transferability refers to the degree to
which the results of qualitative research can be transferred to
other contexts with other respondents (Bitsch, 2005; Tobin &
Begley, 2004). To ensure the transferability of the findings, the
researchers purposefully chose the conversation partner –
someone who has prolonged engagement with the festival. Also, a
thick description from the conversation partner's statements was
used to support each theme that emerged from the data.
According to Li (2004), thick description “enables judgments
about how well the research context fits other contexts, thick
descriptive data, i.e., a rich and extensive set of details
concerning methodology and context, should be included in the
research report.”
Confirmability. Confirmability is concerned with
establishing that data and interpretations of the findings are not
figments of the inquirer‘s imagination but are derived from the
data (Tobin & Begley, 2004). To ensure that the study has
confirmability, the researchers made the audit trail. As the
researchers were doing the data explication, original statements
of the conversation partner were matched with the emerging
themes. According to Bowen (2009), an “audit trail offers visible
evidence from process and product that the researcher did not
simply find what he or she set out to find.”
Dependability. Dependability involves participants
evaluating the findings and the interpretation and
recommendations of the study to make sure that they are all
supported by the data received from the informants of the study
(Cohen et al., 2011; Tobin & Begley, 2004). To ensure the
dependability of the study, the researchers used stepwise

9
replication. The researchers divide the group into two clusters
with two members to analyze the same data separately and
develop themes decided by each member. In the given period,
with the help of the research adviser, the two groups discussed
and planned what themes should be used. (Chilisa & Preece,
2005).
The researchers also used the code recode strategy. From
the answers of the researchers’ respondents, the researchers code
data twice in code 1 and code 2. Each code is composed of a
different definition based on each statement. The code-recode
strategy is also referred to as code agreement. The research
process allows multiple observations by the researcher,
suggesting that the inter-rater or inter-observer code the data and
compare the coding done by the inter-rater (Ary et al., 2010).

Procedure for Data Analysis

We used Braun & Clarke's (2006) guide to conducting a
thematic analysis divided into six steps. The first step is
familiarizing ourselves with our data by “repeated reading” and
actively reading the data, searching for meaning, patterns, etc.
Then, we generated initial codes where we came up with an initial
list of ideas about the data and what is interesting.
Subsequently, we searched for themes. We begun with these
when all our data have been initially coded and collated, and we
had a list of the different codes we have identified across our data
set. This is where we started to analyze our collated data, and we
considered how we could combine different codes to form an
overarching theme. We re-focused our analysis on the initial
themes we have derived from the codes.
We have generated initial themes. These were refined by
collapsing some and combining two or three initial themes into
one. After this step, we finalized and described the final themes.
Lastly, we prepared our research report.

Results and Discussion

The data gathered through interviews were analyzed, and

seven themes emerged. The themes include the festival’s origin,
the concept of the Babaylan Festival, beliefs and rituals of the

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Babaylan, the role of the Babaylan in the community as a healer,
how it celebrated, the challenges and difficulties they
encountered, and how they advertise the festival to the people
and in the whole. The themes also show that Babaylan played a
significant role in the culture of the people living in Bago City. It
becomes a festival that they annually celebrate until now.

Festival’s Origin

Community-based festivals and events are also called local

events-originate within a community sector with a need or desire
to celebrate a feature of its life or history (Dimmock & Tiyce,
2000). And for this, our conversation partner mentioned that
“…the very first time that the small group of people from Bago City
talked about staging a unique celebration that would establish its
identity as a people, they thought of highlighting the leader who
hailed from the place and spelled a significant part in its history –
General Juan Araneta. It was suggested that they feature the
mountain and the resorts in the place.” He further added that “the
leader then asserted that they should underscore the religious
aspect of the people, just like Kanlaon. They should instill in the
contemporary residents that there are Babaylans, wise elders who
can provide healing and comfort as well as wisdom and
enlightenment.”

Moreover, festivals represent diversity at play in each

community. Research is undertaken to ascertain how festivals,
like other cultural institutions, can contribute to the
communication of ideas, information sharing, inculcation of
values, promotion of active citizenship, improving the
understanding of different cultures and lifestyles, and building
social partnerships (Kelly and Kelly, 2000). Our conversation
partner affirmed this by saying that “some people say that the
babaylan is not a human they are "aswang" they said they are not
good. Whatever! But we persisted because whether you like it or
not, it is part of our culture…. they are really powerful in the
community. I think even today. They are in different forms. Before
in ancient history, the Babaylan is the one who connects to the
spirits…they are healers, basically. We don’t just ignore them

11
because Babaylan is culture-based. Their practice is part of our
culture. And now it is still there, you know, in a different form.”

Festivals attract tourists and create festival tourism.

Tourists are attracted by many elements, which seem interesting,
sometimes exotic culture, presented during the events (Quinn,
2010). Besides, tourists want to attend events of unusual
atmosphere, meet people of similar interests, and learn more
about the world. This is what our conversation partner has to
say, “so starting 1998, it was adopted and became the Babaylan
festival. Of course, since it was the first year, all the
choreographers did not understand yet, I mean the concept, and
we were conceptualizing the whole festival.”

Every festival has its origin. The Philippines have dozens

of festivals, and most towns have their own and national ones.
Filipino hospitality is legendary, and it is more in evidence than at
the festival time. Since Filipinos are one of the most joyful and
sociable races, we have a long list of festivals and celebrations all
year round. These festivals or fiestas are some of the most
anticipated events in the country as they are commonly called.
Fiesta season, which covers the months from December to May,
attracts tourists worldwide. Event tourism is an important and
rapidly growing segment of international tourism (Getz, 2008).

Festival’s Concept
In the case of the Babaylan Festival, like our
conversational partner said, “a festival is not just any celebration.
It is based on a particular idea.” It is meant to promote the
culture of the indigenous Filipinos that they believe in a high
authority that could advise them on how to live life, heal them
from discomfort and pain, link them to spirits, and intercede for
them. This festival is based on gathering many different groups
of people, including the government, and the collaboration of
people to put together a great event. “The Babaylan Festival was
conceptualized because organizers thought that the culture of Bago
City is interspersed with the presence of healers who have the
potential to deal with spirits and assist the ordinary people in

12
getting relief from whatever symptoms they may encounter when
they are sick.”

All over the world, people of different religions and ethnic

groups celebrate an important event. Such celebration or event is
regarded as festivals, which has to do with the whole community.
Festivals are significant aspects of life. This importance is
affirmed by our conversation partner when he said that “the faith
of the people has been nurtured well, and it may take another
lifetime to sway them away from their beliefs.” They are the most
important activities for social and religious purposes, and they
represent occasions of feasting and celebration involving series of
performances, entertainments, merry-making, ceremonies, and
rites (Lawal, Sadiku & Dopamu, 2005). Our conversation partner
mentioned that “as a theme for the charter day instead of just a
parade…. Well, Babaylan doesn’t need any technology because
what is technology in the Babaylan?... As I said before, we don’t
need technologies.”

Festival visitors look for unforgettable and pleasant

memories and experiences. In this sense, they are consumers of
specific products- festival performances in the context of
experience marketing of the city. Participants in some festival
performances look like their resort experience “for affective
memories to create a holistic personal experience” (Ali, Hussain &
Omar, 2016). Our interviewee explicitly stated that “people who
come to witness the annual fair are never disappointed because
great time, effort, and ingenuity have been spared to make the
festival a great venue for people to converge and enjoy. More and
more people come each year to experience the celebration”.

The interviewee acknowledged that the government is not

hesitant to give its all-out support to realize the small group's
ideals that started this festival many years ago. It has continued
to grant considerable assistance in finances, ideas, and
mechanisms, just so the yearly celebration is as spectacular as
the last one. Like any other endeavor, this festival would not be
possible if not for the unity and Bayanihan spirit of the people of
Bago City. The Babaylan Festival is proof that Bagonhons can
work well with one another.

13
 According to our conversational partner,

“It came from the MICE, and then we came to

Buenos Aires… But sometimes, the forum comes the
day before. But the ideas and concepts originated
from the city’s first lady Janet Torres.”

“So, from there, once it was decided…. We then

called one of our choreographers Boy Dela Cruz to
come up with a dance.

Well, mainly, the festival aims to train our dancers,

our choreographers that’s why we always have
workshops for them in the art of dance, in the art of
music, in the art of choreography. We have a
committee. I head the committee, that’s all. And then
the long list of the 25 people. Of course, we have a
Mayor, the tourism officer, and 26 or 30 other people
that run the festival. The Mayor, the
choreographers, I’m the chairman every year.”

Festivals come closest to fulfilling the function that

culture provides in contemporary society. They can accomplish
the threefold goal of attracting intense expenditure, forging a new
urban image, and acting as a driving force behind cultural
creativity and social cohesion. We are currently witnessing a
spectacular growth in the number of cultural shows and
performances organized in urban and rural settings to the extent
that nearly all major cities now boast at least one festival devoted
to some art form. The contributions above led to the
festivalization of cities (Prentice & Andersen, 2003; Quinn, 2006).
The festivalization of cities is perceived as creating cultural
experiences aimed at potential tourists drawn by culture and
residents. These festivals offer an alternative urban leisure facility
and an opportunity to identify with the city (Richards, 2007).

Cultural Beliefs and Rituals

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 There are several perspectives under the cultural umbrella
to be reviewed, including making distinctions to clarify tangible
and intangible culture (Filipova, 2010). As a form of tourism,
festivals and culture can be analyzed concerning their social and
cultural contexts (Derrett, 2003). The cultural officer told us that
“one of the reasons we have the Babaylan is to remind people of
our culture because we tend to forget it. In these progressive days,
with technology and computers, we forget our culture. That’s the
reason why we have the Babaylan festival. Although what we
showcase now are the remnants of Babaylan in different forms.”

Values and beliefs are often treated differently. Several

authors have developed models in which culture means beliefs
about the consequences of one’s actions, and these beliefs can be
manipulated by earlier generations or by experimentation. For
example, (Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales, 2008) show how
individual beliefs are initially acquired through cultural
transmission and then slowly updated through experience, from
one generation to the next. The cultural officer described that “the
culture of Bago City has been shaped for a long time with little
changes or modifications here and there, but the main meat of the
matter is still the same. The people believed in a supernatural
being seeking healing and refuge from everyday life struggles. The
people's faith has been nurtured well, and it may take another
lifetime to sway them away from their beliefs. People do not rely
on their strengths and resources. They always call out to someone
more powerful and more equipped to deliver them from their
predicaments. They offer food, you know it is a ritual, and they do
that every year. They come here from Kanlaon.”

The cultural officer further added that “for the ritual, we

don’t do it of course but it still there. Some people still go to
Babaylan. Sometimes you know it happens when you go to
whatever places and if “something” happened to you go to the
healers. And they are the ones explaining to the people. Like for
example, that time they don’t know about lightning, so they think
the Gods are angry.” Rituals and festive events often occur at
particular times and places and remind a community of its
worldview and historical aspects. In some cases, access to

15
traditions may be restricted to specific community members
(Bering, 2005; Bulbulia, 2004).

The Main Role of the Healer

The Babaylan, in Filipino indigenous tradition, “is a

person who is gifted to heal the spirit and the body. He is the one
who serves the community through her role as a folk therapist,
wisdom-keeper, and philosopher. He also provides stability to the
community’s social structure. He can access the spirit realms
and has a vast knowledge of healing therapies (Strobel, 2010).
Our conversation partner proudly shared that babaylans are
there to heal. They were the most intelligent person in the village
before. But at this time, they are not that powerful like they were
in the past.”

Moreover, Spiritual beings are real, not fictitious. They are

treated like a close family member: a spouse, sibling, parent, or
cousin. Healers are created because spirits interact and dwell in
people’s body for the spirits took pity on people’s sufferings. The
spirit/s initiates the offer to help. This favor shall be reciprocated
if the person is willing to allow this spirit to use its body to heal
others who are inflicted by illnesses. “They don’t have the large
role like before they were the consultant of all people in the
community and also the elders would consult them for anything
and everything… that’s the role of the Babaylan. Shaman, man-
spirits, and healing. Also, the Babaylan is the most intelligent
person in the village, in the community, so it explains a lot of
things. The Babaylan is talking to the gods.” as described by our
conversation partner.
A similar condition is believed to be the platform for
devotion to the saints. Food offerings, festive events, and other
forms of spectacle are expected to please the patron saints -
ensuring another blessed and fruitful life (Arriola, 2011).

Traditional healing systems still play a significant role in

help-seeking behavior for the mentally ill on the continent,
despite advances in western-style psychiatric services (Quinn,
2007). Traditional healing has been defined as the practice of

16
using local herbs for the treatment of diseases. Traditional
healers are qualified and legitimate within their communities and
are the first resource many immigrant people of Bago City turn to
for their healthcare, psychological and emotional needs. Today,
traditional healing practices such as Shamanism, Spiritism, and
many others are re-emerging in large cities and are being
practiced alongside contemporary forms of counseling and
healthcare.
Our conversation partner narrated that “the Babaylan’s
primary function is to heal. Whenever any member of the
community acquires sickness, they go to the Babaylan. She is
there to heal the wounded and the afflicted. She makes sure that
the harvest is bountiful and hunting is successful. Also, the
Babaylan is the most intelligent person in the village, in the
community, so it explains a lot of things. Also, he records what’s on
her mind. However, nowadays, they are not that powerful
anymore. They are just the healers. They’re still there, and they
still respected by the people,” as detailed by the cultural officer of
the city.
These forms of traditional healing generally include a
system of classifying and explaining illness and distress and ideas
about the best treatment for particular problems. Traditional
healers are trained to administer locally prepared herbal medicine
for the treatment of diseases (Crawford & Lipsege, 2004; WHO,
2002)

Festival’s Celebration

Filipinos like celebrating occasions – from the simplest to

the most lavish. The Babaylan Festival is an occasion for locals
and tourists to come together and enjoy the festivities. Rituals
structure a ritual sociality that comes to life in times of
celebration. Celebrations facilitate social configurations that
enable collective epiphanic experiences, revealed in drinking and
partying within festivals, carnivals, and other convivial forms of
celebration (Wilks and Quinn, 2016) or singing sacred music
(Salzbrunn, 2016).

17
 Our conversation partner affirmed this as he revealed that
the Babaylan Festival started in 1998. They used to call the
spirits. But they do not do that anymore. Times are modern, but
they have not entirely forgotten about the concept of the
Babaylans. They held a forum for this aspect of the culture to be
continuously passed on to the younger generations. Street
dancing is still a significant part of it. Food stalls are everywhere.
Many people come and celebrate because there is always an
abundance of food. People have prayerful wished that the next
year would be as blessed and as abundant as before.

Similarly, Rokam (2005) supports the idea that the

celebration of festivals provides a community with a sense of
shared identity by creating feelings of shared history. In other
words, such celebrations offer a common platform where
individual members of a community share a mutual sense of joy.
For Rokam (2005), cultural festivals emerged as a common
platform for individuals to come together and display a socio-
cultural ethos.

Our interviewee joyfully shared, “as long as the people

accept it, when the people reject it, when there’s no more audience,
it will stop. As long as there are audiences, it will continue the
practice of the Babaylan from Panay and here. We don’t have a
fiesta to celebrate and be happy; what else to that alcoholic drink
you drink. There was a time, during the time of Jxxxx Txxxxx, the
festival was on stage the final performance after the street dancing
we have to go to the coliseum and be gone to stage. Then we went
back to the arena type, and now this year, we are hoping to be
back on stage. Last year we want on stage, and we’re hoping to
maintain that for a while, so that’s how it evolved. We invite
people to speak on the Babaylan. We are not after the foreigners
but the local tourists.”
The value of a cultural festival may be approached from
various standpoints (Devesa Fernandez, 2006). For the artists
directly involved, it constitutes the production of a cultural good
in itself. Whereas, for those attending, it may provide a range of
use-values (aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, cognitive value,
etc.), as well as existence value related to its symbolic
repercussion (Throsby, 2003). For policymakers, organizing a

18
cultural festival is framed within the provision of a public good,
which may have an economic impact as well as specific intangible
effects in the medium term on the area in which it is held
(Herrero, Sanz, Devesa, Bedate & del Barrio, 2006).

Challenges and Difficulties Encountered

Festivals and events showcase a community's strengths at

play and demonstrate its capacity to cope with external stresses
and disturbances resulting from social, political, and
environmental change (Adger, 2000). According to Chalip (2004),
long-term event leveraging is about developing images to assist
place branding and a city’s market position. The destination’s
image will be affected by the events that it hosts. The particular
effect will depend upon which dimensions of the destination
image are compatible with the event (Chalip et al., 2003). Just
like any undertaking, the festival also has its share of struggles.
Foremost among which is money. Although the government
appropriates funds for this, some private individuals and entities
give financial support through sponsorships and the like.
Expenses are still increasing each year. Finances prove to be the
greatest challenge, but there are still many reasons to be
thankful.

According to our conversational partner,

“Of course, first of all you know, money, financial

you know to put things together, everything should
be in place, the judges would be there, they have to
be credible judges they have to be you know.”

“So well, security sometimes can be a problem and

expect it that we are not biased. The people know
that we want to address security problems. We had
rain, but the celebration will continue.”

“Another source of difficulty is the unpredictable

weather. If there is a storm or a typhoon, then there
is no other choice but to cancel. But so far, with
God’s grace, we only had to postpone the activities

19
 for a few hours until the weather has improved, but
it has never been canceled. The Babaylans of good
weather have always blessed us.”

Urban events risk suffering from ‘serial reproduction’

(Richards and Wilson, 2004), becoming formulaic (Evans, 2001),
and being devoid of real connections with place. Yet, while the
literature identifies in urban festivals the potentially
homogenizing effects of globalization, other perspectives on
culture-led urban regeneration argue that the reproduction of
sameness need not be the outcome. For example, Bailey et al.,
(2004) argue that homogenization is not inevitable but is
attributable to urban management approaches that fail to
understand how local particularities could be cultivated to
counter the globalizing influences of cultural production in city
arenas. More generally, some have questioned the prevailing ‘just
add culture and stir’ approach to urban regeneration (Gibson and
Stevenson, 2004), querying the extent to which it usefully serves
public interests either in the short or the long term.

Festival’s Promotional Strategies

It is also believed that a city or a region can make a name

for itself by establishing its competitive position among countries
through tourism (Smith, 2004). Festivals can make a town or city
regenerate and enable a tourist destination to become famous.
For one, they open doors to new job opportunities. They also
bring about the development of infrastructure that is visitor-
friendly, environment-friendly, and sustainable.

Further, cultural festivals and events cultivate multi-

cultural and intercultural communication that can promote
understanding between the host and the guest (Sdrali and
Chazapi, 2007). In comparison, Babaylan Festival is promoted
through social media and TV networks, according to our
interviewee.

Our conversation partner expressed that:

20
 “It is not difficult to advertise the festival because it
has a great long history. People who witness the
annual fair are never disappointed because great
time, effort, and ingenuity have been spared to
make the festival attract people to converge and
enjoy. More and more people come each year to
experience the celebration.

“20 years ago, there is already social media. And

then that’s why we, we join others like we’re joining
Aliwans (merrymaking). You will be linking with
other countries that have Babaylan.”

“There’s already RPN, AXX-CXX, and even GXX

were there already 21 years ago.”

“Well, when you promote, you promote the City of

Bago wherever may go, you bring along our festival,
but I guess we almost promote Babaylan festival
through social media, and then linkages. It is a
perfect advertisement for Buenos Aires.”

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) promote

local cultural festivals as tourism attractions (Felsenstein &
Fleischer, 2003), for they are felt to possess attributes that make
them appealing to visitors. Festivals can provide an opportunity
to showcase the destination’s rich intangible heritage, local
traditions, ethnic backgrounds, and cultural landscapes. Lee and
Lee (2001) concluded that segmenting festival markets through
motivations enables event managers to identify the strengths and
opportunities of each market and helps guarantee their
satisfaction. Arts festivals are a cultural highlight in many towns,
cities and countries worldwide. Celebrations of the richness and
diversity of culture and creativity, they often encompass a variety
of contemporary and traditional art forms — dance, music,
theatre, arts and crafts. Culturally, they offer a unique snapshot
of a community’s identity, both providing an opportunity to
revitalize and preserve cultural practices, and often serving as a
creative laboratory for contemporary performers. Socially, they
are a means of strengthening intercultural dialogue, promoting

21
deeper understanding through shared experience; and
economically, they can generate sizeable, long-term financial
benefits and significant business and employment opportunities.

General Statement

Babaylan Festival is a unique celebration held in Bago

City annually. It is a way to preserve the people’s unique culture
and grow financially, socially, and spiritually. It is a vehicle to
magnetize tourists to come and continue exploring the city's
beauty and richness. The local government of Bago City may want
to venture into a more objective study to find out their festival's
specific strengths and weaknesses and solicit feedback from the
visiting tourists. How else can they bring in more revenues from
tourists turn-out? Generally, our conversation partner had
provided information about how Babaylan Festival was celebrated
in Bago City.

The conversational partner shared everything about the

Babaylan Festival, which they celebrated every year. Our
conversation partner invited us to witness the Babaylan Festival.
The researchers experienced an exotic character of the Babaylan
through their different costumes, actions, and the true essence of
the Babaylan. The dancers used some medicines and materials in
the healing process: incense, “tawas” (alum), triangular scarf, a
piece of cloth, etc.

Having witnessed the celebration, we realized that

Babaylan Festival is one of the most colorful, enduring, and
historical festivals in Negros. The City of Bago preserved their
cultures and traditions generated into dancing and playing
different instruments that create an excellent example in
celebrating the festival. The dancers put dye and paint to their hair
and body. They wear different kinds of clothes of the Babaylan to
show how the Babaylan dressed in the past.
At one time, the City's Tourism Office adapted the theme
“Babaylan-Simbahan.” They agreed on it because the Babaylan
and the church have their similarities in believing in God. The
only thing that the Babaylan differ was that they consult first the
spirits or called it “surog” before talking to God. According to our

22
conversational partner, Babaylan was placed among the highest-
ranking leaders of the group or tribe. When the Spanish
colonizers came to Negros Island, their rituals were suppressed,
making way to the Christian religion.
The vivid description of our conversation revealed that the
festival’s origin and concept are rooted in the healer's cultural
beliefs and rituals and primary role. As years go by, the festival’s
celebration has evolved and attracted more participants and
visitors, many challenges and difficulties were encountered.
However, the city thought of various promotional strategies. Thus,
the festival continues and keeps on attracting more tourists.

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