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The
Bohol Sandugo Celebration or Sandugo Festival, also
known as Blood Compact Commemoration, is an annual
historical event in Tagbilaran, Bohol. The Sandugo
Festival celebrates the signing of a treaty of
friendship between the Spanish Captain General Miguel
Lopez de Legaspi and Datu Sikatuna, the native
chieftain. The treaty was signed on March 16,1565. This
was 44 years after Ferdinand Magellan was killed
attacking Mactan Island.
Hundreds and thousands of people from around the
Philippines and the world gather for this special event
which involves colorful costumes and loud drum beats,
street parades, church services, fireworks, beauty
pageants (Miss Bohol and Miss Tagbilaran), cockfighting
tournaments and sport tournaments. The main highlights
of the Sandugo Festival is a street parade with a street
dancing competition, a re-enactment of the first sandugo
or blood compact, and the Search for Miss Bohol Sandugo.
The Sandugo Festival is proof of the greatness that
springs from unity, when different regions, local
government and the private sector, cultural advocates
and philanthropists come together. One blood, one
culture. |
