Regada: Wet and Wild Party

I’ve been living here in Tanza for three years now but I spent 23 years of my life in Cavite City, my beloved hometown. Yes, it’s a city but you won’t find any tall buildings or even a mall there. It’s so small that you can easily bump into someone you know by just walking through the commercial area. It’s also a peninsula. Sadly, we’re not known for beaches even though we’re surrounded by water. However, we are known for something else…

Map of Cavite City. Photo via huno.com

The feast of Saint John the Baptist is held every 24th of June (today) in most towns and cities here in the Philippines and the way of celebration is usually associated with water. In Cavite City, this water festival is popularly known as Regada derived from the Spanish word regar meaning “water” or “to sprinkle”.

If you will go to work on this day, leave home as early as possible because everyone is allowed to throw water to anyone once the clock strikes eight. When I was a kid back in the early 90’s, we would just simply fetch water from the water pump and throw water using a dipper or pail. Water gun is such a weak weapon for this. Haha. If you don’t want to get wet, better stay at home because no one is exempted. Even passengers inside the jeepneys and buses are targeted.

As years go by, this particular event has evolved into a huge environmental, religious and cultural activity. It was only 1996 when the name “Regada” was born. We just used to call it “San Juan”. Hehe. Now, the main water party is held at P. Burgos Avenue where water sprinkles are installed on the street for a big shower room experience. The street dancing contest is also held here. Dancers parade on the street while drenched in water from these sprinklers.

I captured this last Sunday and they are still working on it.

Jollibee trying to help but nope, he couldn’t.

So now, since I’m in Tanza and “San Juan” is not actually considered a holiday, I had to go to work and missed the fun of Regada. I’m not Catholic so I really don’t celebrate the religious part of it but I like the idea of having a big playground where adults can also join the fun. At 12 o’clock, everything should be back to normal.

Looking at some photos from the web…

Street Dancing…

That’s all folks. 🙂

 

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