Buyloganay Festival

The Concept of “Buyloganay”

A Filipino cultural heritage that may never cease to exist for generations is the holding of Annual Town Fiesta, a tradition influenced through the spread of Christianity in the country and more particularly originated by the Catholic hierarchy whereby idolizing a certain saint as a patron. The municipality of Ivisan in this part, celebrate its annual Municipal and Religious Fiesta in the honour of its patron saint, St. Nicholas de Tolentino every September 10. Historical facts however, do not show what activities were undertaken during the first fiesta celebration, but for many years now, the festivity lasts for five days starting September 5 and culminating on its feast days. Unlike the barangay fiesta, the town fiesta celebration is usually associated with a theme be it cultural or current events that denotes significance to the occasion. Each and every year, the themes changes at the turn of events not until 1993 when the members of the fiesta management suggested that there should be a permanent theme for the affair, patterned after the provincial festivals of Halaran, Ati- atihan and Dinagyang which is a one-word theme in the local dialect that will depict the culture of the locality and should express simplicity and uniqueness. A management meeting was called for the matter to be discussed and decided, and among the suggestions raised, Buyloganay, a word typical of an Ivisan culture characterized by the gesture of unity and cooperation, turned out to be the one chosen as the permanent fiesta theme, thus BUYLOGANAY was conceived.

Lately, the fiesta management having been fascinated with the theme, further thought of organizing an association that will take responsibility of all fiesta celebrations of the municipality. Upon agreement of all members in the meeting, the plan was carried out. An association was organized and named BUYLOGANAY ASSOCIATION OF IVISAN (BAI), a non- stock, non- profit association with the objective to promote socio- economic, cultural and training programs that will enhance livelihood development in the municipality. The Buyloganay Association of Ivisan was founded on July 6, 1995 and handled for the first time the fiesta affair which was a big success. With this initial achievement, the BAI looks forward to many more fiesta celebrations to spearhead.