By BRYAN M. AZURA
People close to five thousand in numbers, mostly local tourists, have gathered. Some were eating snacks or full meals on makeshift food joints made out of nipa shingles. Others were standing in groups chatting. Others were busy shooting their digital cameras (since nobody was observed bringing analog camera with film in it). Noticeably, almost everywhere in the perimeter there were carabaos and horses tied to a tree. But most of the crowd was standing around a huge space waiting for something. This was the picture in the village of Camansi of Carigara town. There was one common thing about the gathering; festivity.
Festivals are not rare in Samar and Leyte. But this festival is quite uncommon. It’s Saturday. But it’s not just a usual Saturday. It’s Black Saturday. And these people were not gathered to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ. They assemble regularly for the Torugpo ha Camansi.
Torugpo ha Camansi is an annual activity that stages carabao fight. A carabao is matched against another carabao in a struggle. The carabaos lock horns and push against each other until one of them runs and is eventually pursued by the winning animal.
According to an article posted in (website), Torugpo originally was held on Good Friday and had its beginnings during the Spanish era. It was Kalgaranons’ defiant answer to the Friars’ dictum that Good Friday be observed in piety and solemnity, the article said.
The contest of strength between carabaos is called torugpo, from the root word togpo, which means matchmaking in waray, the article notes. Matchmaking is commonly associated with promoting a relationship between lovers, but it could also mean matching opponents. This is what Kalgaranons do in Black Saturday - promoting a fight not between men but between carabaos.
Upon request of Palo Bishop Cipriano Urgel that the torugpo be held in a day other than Good Friday, the organizers did not have second thoughts but to agree to it since they no longer have the reason not to. Since then, the event had been held on Black Saturday, the article continued.
To make torugpo a more interesting sight, the carabao fights had been added with horse fights. This year, around 30 carabaos and horses had been paired to fight, each fight lasting from 10-20 minutes, giving much thrill to the watching audience.
Noticeably, no safe fences had been set up in the venue. This makes the crowd subject to stampede once the brawling carabaos start running. No person was reported hurt in this year’s action, however, except for some who stepped or fell into carabao’s manure while escaping from the giant mammals.
Just outside the fight area were food kiosks. It’s a common picture for big gatherings like the torugpo. But getting the eyes easily are the array of red-orange,juicy lechons (roasted pigs) displayed for sale to the public. “It’s a Black Saturday and you wouldn’t think Roman Catholics will feast on lechon until Sunday,” says a first time tourist. Devout catholics would starve themselves of meat on Lenten Season especially Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. But not in Carigara. Torugpo in itself is an act of defiance to the religious commands of the Spanish priests. Buffeting on lechon in that event would surely add up to the Friars’ irritation if they were still around.
To date, this event is becoming more popular that each year the crowd gets larger. Torugpo was only attended by locales of Carigara and some nearby towns. But now tourists, both local and foreign, are already part of the crowd on this annual gathering. The Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Office has already taken notice of this and is somehow being promoted as a tourist attraction.
Making torugpo a priority project of DOT, though, is another story. It’s this office that has the claws to bring the popularity of this event to another level… at least before PAWS does.
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