PANAGBENGA FESTIVAL

Panagbenga is month-long annual flower festival occurring in Baguio.

The festival, held during the month of February, was created as a tribute

 to the city’s flowers and as a way to rise up from the devastation of

the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The festival includes floats that are decorated

with flowers unlike those used in Pasadena’s Rose Parade. The festival

also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-

inspired costumes, that is inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of

celebration that came from the Cordillera region.

Panagbenga showcases the people's talent, artistry and

ingenuity via performances, exhibits and more. It opens

with a shower of rose petals along Session Road while

 marching bands played lively tunes that sets the mode

for the parade. Colorful costumes and lively dance

numbers come next followed by cleverly- crafted, vibrant

and multicolored floats made entirely from flowers of

every kind which never fails to delight and awe the

spectators young and old.

Panagbenga represents the many facets of the "Summer Capital", its

 people and its heritage. Like the festival, the city blooms with brimming

talent, natural beauty and indominable spirit. With the sights, sounds,

smells and tastes of Baguio, every trip to the City of Pines becomes a

memorable experience that will keep you coming

back for more.

history

The Panagbenga started with just an idea that Baguio

City shoud,like other towns and cities in the Philippines,

have it's own "fiesa"or festival celebration. Having been

created a city by the Americans during their occupation

of the Philippines, Baguio did not start as a town during

the Spanish colonial period that had

 a patron saint with a feast day.

In 1996, archivist and curator Ike Picpican suggested that the

festival be renamed as Panagbenga, a Kankanaey term that

means "a season of blossoming, a time for flowering"