Celebrating Fiesta at Toctoc Leyte, Leyte

The main reason why we went to Leyte is because of the invitation of our ate to her hometown to celebrate the fiesta. It was their tradition that for every fiesta their relatives who were living in some part of our country or even outside the Philippines would always come home during the fiesta. Their Fiesta was held every May in honor of Sr Santa Cruz. Like in other provinces before the day of the fiesta celebration, lots of events or leisure activities will be done as a form of entertainment but during the fiesta, no more activities will be organized. They just focused on entertaining visitors at home since almost all of the houses prepared some delicious foods like lechon and other menus for their guests.

The most exciting part I've attended as part of their fiesta celebration was the Kuratsa and disco night. Kuratsa is a traditional dance originally performed in Leyte and Samar and performed during fiesta, weddings, birthdays, and other occasions with money being showered by both couples and supported by friends and relatives. I saw a lot of couples dancing on the dance floor with money showered while dancing. I was amazed at how the people of Toctoc, Leyte, Leyte preserved their customs and traditions.

My two ates also danced a kuratsa. They can't afford to leave the dancing hall or gym without experiencing how to dance Kuratsa in the middle of the dance floor while showering money. So one of my ate prepared 50.00 pesos bills worth 2,000.00 and my other ate prepared 20.00 bills worth 1 thousand pesos. They also showered money while dancing and were supported by our friends and relatives. I just captured them and took a video. I enjoyed much and kept on laughing since I instructed one of my ate to spread the money very slowly so that she could finish the music with only 1,000.00 cash. So she did it and was able to finish the music. Both of them enjoyed dancing and they can't forget their first ever experience. The cash raised from the Kuratsa dance will be used for the renovation of the chapel. Aside from Kuratsa, there was disco music and cha-cha number so that other guests could have a chance to be on the dance floor even without cash.

I'm thankful for what I ate in Toctoc, Leyte for letting us experience how they celebrate fiesta in their hometown. It was a very nice experience.