Si Bulusan nan Si Aguingay Festival

(Bulusan, Sorsogon)

Si Bulusan nan Si Aguingay is a yearly celebrated festival

in Bulusan, Sorsogon, Bicol, Philippines. This is held a day
before the town fiesta which is on July 25th, the feast day of
St. James the Greater. The festival consists of a parade and
street dancing in full character and costume. A competition is
held to interpret the epic story through dance. High school
students, dressed in their version of abaca finery, dance around
town with choreographed moves, accompanied by bamboo drums that
keep time with the budyong's occasional horn-like sound (a large
kind of seashell).
The folklore was all about the Brave and handsome Bulusan
and gorgeous Agingay who recently got married and live blissfully
under the shadow of the volcano, but evil lurks in the shadows in
the form of Casiguran, son of Apu Juban, the old but revered
village leader. Casiguran, who lurks in the shadows, is envious
of Bulusan and Agingay, although he already has the devoted and
understanding, his wife.
Casiguran, driven by great envy, saw an opportunity to put
an end to his hatred when Apu Juban died. \ Bulusan was wrongly
accused of killing the village ruler, by the evil Casiguran. He
accomplished this by threatening and persuading Putiao, the
village soothsayer, to testify against Bulusan as the alleged
assassin of Apu Juban. Bulusan was brought before the village
elders, Gurang Donsol, Gurang Matnog, and Gurang Bacon, after
Putiao's false testimony to be fed to the fearsome, man-eating,
giant Mampak bird that regularly preyed on the village.
Despite Agingay's appeals, Casiguran remains unmoved, and
Bulusan dies after the Mampak bird feasts on his carcass on the
volcano's summit. Casiguran, keen on eradicating all traces of
Bulusan. He was still not happy with Bulusan's death and ordered
the already bereaved Agingay to throw their first-born son into
the jaws of the burning volcano as soon as he was born.
Agingay complied as she climbed the volcano with her young
boy by Bulusan, fearful of Casiguran, who had already seized the
post of village ruler following Apu Juban's death. Meanwhile,
Irosin approached her husband after learning of Casiguran's
betrayal, but he simply sneered at her. Those who are troubled by
their conscience Putiao, on the other hand, admits what he and
Casiguran did to the local elder. After discovering the truth
from Putiao, Irosin hurries to inform the village elders, but she
runs into them on their way out, enraged.
Together with other angry villagers, they all rush together
to the volcano to save Agingay and her newborn son. On the way,
they discover the body of Putiao, hacked to death by the minions
of Casiguran. At the volcano's crater, they find the already
lifeless body of Agingay, killed by her hand after throwing her
infant son into the mouth of the smoldering volcano. They
discover Casiguran hiding behind a boulder, seize him, and hurl
him into the volcano's raging crater. The people all mournfully
go down the volcano, carrying Agingay's lifeless body, and their
tears combine with Agingay's tears and Bulusan's blood, forming
two lakes on the volcano's slopes.
The two lakes are now known as Lake Bulusan and Lake
Agingay, and the volcano upon whose slopes the two beautiful
lakes serenely repose, is now known as Mt. Bulusan.