Cross-dressing men of Minalin town in Pampanga recently paraded in the streets for the Aguman Sanduk Festival, an 89-year-old tradition to welcome the new year.
Held in the afternoon of Jan. 1, the festivity is said to have started in the 1930s by two men who paraded around the town wearing women’s clothes to cheer the townsfolk when they suffered the worst drought.
Literally meaning “the fellowship of the ladle” to symbolize the abundance of food, Aguman Sanduk celebrates the people of Minalin eventually overcoming the drought, and the townsfolk have been celebrating the event as a sign of their resilience and fun-loving nature.
In addition to the street dancing which brings to the audience, the parade also showcases intricately-designed floats representing the participating barangays.
Minalin is regarded as Central Luzon’s “egg basket” because of its large-scale production of eggs and chickens.
It is home to the Santa Monica Parish Church, a National Cultural Treasure declared by the National Museum because of the mixture of pre-colonial architectural motifs and European iconography.