Puhag Festival 2019

Street Dancing & Showdown – Valencia

The celebration of the Puhag Festival 2019 marks the third annual festivity in the municipality of Valencia, Negros Oriental. This unique festival is inspired by the native way of collecting honey. The municipality of Valencia is one of the four municipalities and city in Negros Oriental that does not have a coast. Being blessed with the agricultural resources, Valencia is known as the “little Baguio” of Negros Oriental.

Puhag Festival 2019 – Street Dancing & Showdown

For this year’s festivity, only Five school groups participated in the street dancing and showdown competition namely San Pedro Academy Recoletos, Valencia National High School, Balugo National High School, San Pedro Academy and Pulangbato National High School. Surprisingly, the street dancing started on time. Thanks to the organization of the Tourism of Valencia, the people did not have to wait under the heat of the blazing sun. The street dancing parade started at exactly 1:30 pm, while the showdown started at 3:00 pm. Colors of black, yellow, red and green flooded the streets.

Of course a bee hive would not be complete without a honey bee or a festival queen bee. While the rest of the dance group performs, it is the festival queen bee’s job to wiggle her stinger and charm everyone with her smile. This year’s Puhag Festival 2019 has definitely improved and leveled up.

Puhag – A Brief History

The term “puhag” is a Bisayan word that means to collect honey. In the olden days, people would carelessly collect honey and collectors would get stung by the bees guarding the honeycombs. After trying different ways of collecting honey, they found the simple yet effective protection…nets and smoke.