Toslob Festival
The Toslob Festival is celebrated together with the celebration of Immaculada Conception (which was on Dec. 8, 2011). People gracefully dance on streets wearing colorful costumes around the town of Oslob.
The ritual dance of Toslob Festival shows how the town of Oslob got its name. It was said that two guardia civils (civil guards) came into town and passed through a couple resting and eating boiled bananas soaked in vinegar. They asked the couple the name of the town but the couple did not get it correctly. Instead of telling the name of the place, the couple said “toslob”, which actually means “soaking”.
The civil guards thought that the name of the name was “Toslob”. The word “Toslob” was then replaced with the “Oslob” and that’s how the town of Oslob got its name.
The Ritual Competition
After a long dance around the town, the contingents (representing the barangays) gathers in a place beside the Immaculada Conception church for a ritual dance competition.
For this year, there are 7 contingents participating:
- Banay Alcahanon (Alo, Calumpang, Hagdan)
- Pundok Malamboong Oslob (Lo-oc, Lagunde, Manlum)
- Tribu Mapasigarbohong Oslobanon (Daanlungsod, Luka, Tumalog)
- Lumadnong Pundok sa Oslob (Poblacion)
- Tribu Kina-iyahan (Bangcogon, Mainit, Tan-awan)
- Tribu Busilak (Gawi, Nueva Caceres, Pungtod)
- Pundok sa Kabatan-onang Manonoslob (Bonbon, Cansaloay, Canukban)
And for this year, the Grand Champion is the lovely and graceful “Tribu Busilak”, representing the barangays of Gawi, Nueva Caceres, and Pungtod.
Grand Champion: Tribu Busilak
1st Runner-up: Tribu Mapasigarbohong Oslobanon
2nd Runner-up: Lumadnong Pundok sa Oslob
