agten festival | The Adventures of AdventuRoj!

September 11 is approaching once again! Guess what awaited festival shall I be sharing to you today?

None other than the beautiful and bountiful festival of my beloved hometown, Tupi, South Cotabato!

Agten Tufi: Truly Beautiful, Truly Bountiful Festival

About Agten Tufi Festival

Agten Tufi Festival, a thanksgiving celebration of Beauty and Bounty, is a convergence of various ethnic and cultural dances featuring Tupi as the province’s flower, fruit and vegetable basket and a place where various cultures abode. Held every September 11 in celebration of the town’s foundation anniversary.

For more than a decade, the Municipality of Tupi had been holding” Kasadyahan Festival” as a celebration of its foundation anniversary. Usual to the celebration were replications of the practices of other festivals that it loses its real essence as to creating its own identity, reflective of the aspirations of the Municipality of Tupi as a people. The festival name Kasadyahan is generic to fiestas in the Visayan regions –its literal meaning, ‘merriment’, had been misconceived as a reason for escapism from the stark realities of life and governance because as a whole concept, there is no relevant, more so, pertinent reason for celebration but just that, to celebrate in grandiose pomp and pageantry.

The proposal to rename Tupi’s festival is one executive effort to redirect the visions of governance towards more meaningful celebration of its foundation anniversary. The creation of a concept based on social realities such as cultural heritage and its cultural assets could well define what direction the Municipality takes as it identifies the reason why it has to celebrate – a festival that gives weight to the programs of government, the aspirations of its people, the history of its constituents that creates a holistic showcase of the tri-partite relationship between social/cultural, political and economic institutions as pillars of development.

Why Agten Tufi?

Beautiful Tupi

Agten Tufi is from Blaan etymology meaning “beautiful or bountiful Tupi”. Considering its cultural history, Tupi (tufi), along with Koronadal (kolon datal), Polomolok (flom molok) and Tampakan (tamfaken) derived its name from Blaan origins – making its tribal roots a significant part and parcel of its social history. As such, the tourism and economic potential of its culture is high – if only realized and anchored to programs of the government.

Most Philippine festivals anchored in Culture are most successful. Sinulog of Cebu, Dinagyang of Ilo-ilo, Ati-atihan of Aklan, Pintados of Leyte and South Cotabato’s Tnalak festival to name a few! These festivals had taken off from the usual merriment – instead, these particular festivals became venues for image making and packaging that speak of the existence and aspirations of their respective people, manifested by a strong political will, creating vast opportunities in business and investments. To top all these, their festival names are unique and their respective people had established a sense of ownership that concretized their directions for growth and development.

Agten Tufi attempts to establish the same direction. As a name with holistic meaning, the Municipality of Tupi drives into the very same holistic programs making it one of its vehicles for establishing identity. It becomes the true mirror of all its institutions combined in positive efforts to respect the cultural past that made Tupi what it is now and what it will be in the future. The new leadership’s visions cater to change – the most imperative change could be the renaming of its reasons to celebrate (the festival) because festivals in the political, economic and social mainstreams are true reflections of a stable governance and a strong political will that establishes a community with right visions and positive directions. In totality, it becomes the main reason to celebrate the goodness and the bounty of the Municipality of Tupi!