PASACAT's 13th Annual Parol Festival

December 4, 2010, PASACAT's 13th Annual Parol Festival is the first Filipino-American event that I have attended since I moved here from Sacramento on November 1st 2010.

It was actually funny because I absolutely forgot the number 1 rule on Filipino Events, bring cash!  So when my daughter and I walked up to the counter to buy our tickets I thought I might not be able to witness and enjoy the event but the PASACAT committee was very nice and said that  I could just mail a check for them. Now that's Filipino kindness!  We walked in and were welcomed by very nice ladies serving food.  I definitely enjoyed the huge pandesal and toron. 

After enjoying our merienda (snack) we walked around to visit some booths.  I enjoyed the cultural display by PASACAT which consisted of Filipino folk dance dresses, books, clippings about our culture and several cultural dolls that represented our colorful dresses that Filipinas wore then.

My daughter wanted so badly to participate in the lantern workshop but of course with no cash we couldn't (next year we will be sure to bring some!).

We both enjoyed the folk dances performed and my daughter (4) wants now to learn these dances in addition to ballet.  There was a good number of people that attended and the location was great, no hassle with parking.

"PASACAT is a Philippine folk dance but in San Diego, it began as an acronym for the Philippine Society and Cultural Arts Troupe.  Today, PASACAT's mission is to preserve and promote the Asian Pacific culture through the arts thereby, extending goodwill and enhancing cultural understanding."

PASACAT was originally established in November of 1970.  The performing arts company has four performance components, the Senior Company, Junior Dancers, Rondalla & Percussion Instrumentalists and the Harana Singers. 

PASACAT is available for workshops, presentations and performances and offers regular classes in traditional Philippine dance and rondalla.

To learn more about the great organization, please visit their website at PASACAT HOME

--MaG, The Filipino-American