Sadsad Festival

Oslob also has its annual Sadsad Festival. It is celebrated every year during the town annual fiesta. It is a dance festival wherein the barangays of Oslob come up with a dance to compete for a prize and for the sake of offering it to their patronness.

History

The word “sadsad”,in the local dialect, means dance. This is where the Sadsad festival got its name. The Sadsad festival is held in honor of the patroness, the Immaculate Concepcion. It was started in Barangay Poblacion but was later elevated as the town festival when the barangay captain became the mayor of the town.

It was originally in honor of barangay Poblacion’s patron saint, San Roque, that was honored by the said festivity. When Brgy. Poblacion’s barangay captain became Mayor of the town, he elevated the barangay festival inot the official town festival and changes its celebration from March (San Roque’s feast day) to December (Immaculate Concepcion’s feast day).

This year, the Festival’s name was changed from Sadsad Festival to Sadsadayon Festival. It comes from the two segments, Sadsad and dayon. Sadsad, which means dance, has been retained. Dayon came from two visayan words, “dayon” and “padayon”. Dayon, meaning welcome, was used because Oslobanons are known fr their hospitality and is always shown during their annual town fiesta through dance. Padayon, meaning continue, was used because Oslobanaons are supposed to continue their traditions in rejoicing every after victory and to continue the good values which they have. Thus, this year, the Sadsad Festival was renamed Sadsadayon Festival.

Origin

Another twist to this year’s festival is the making of the Sadsadayon official steps. It was discovered lately that a dance was danced by the early Oslobanons when they were triumphant in fighting against the Moro invaders during the Spanish regime. One evidence of Moro invasion in Oslob is the Baluarte, or commonly called “Bantayan sa Hari” wherein it was constructed to guard for the coming of Moro invaders and still stand today.

The Sadsadayon steps consist four kinds of steps which are: “labyug”, “hagwa”, “agni”, and “pasalamat”. These steps were discovered to be used by the early Oslobanons when they rejoiced after defeating the Moro invaders.

Another story involves the same dance but in a different location, the Sumilon island. Since the island is far down south of Cebu, it was used as a watch-point for the Spaniards. And since the Moros, or Muslims, came from Mindanao, the Sumilon island saw everything that would be coming from the south. The island came to be a battleground of the ancient Moro wariors and the early Oslobanons. Every after victory, the Oslobanons would then rejoice with the dance.

Steps

The Labyug is a step which means “sway”, the Hagwa means “to cheer up”, the Agni means “to invite”, and the Pasalamat means “thanksgiving”.

Execution

• Labyug - sway hips from side to side, let both hands move forward while making a “dive”
• Hagwa – raise both hands along the head and shake both hands, while doing these, shake hips rythmically along with the shaking of hands
• Agni – hands on the sides, pointing downward, then let hands move up and down rythmically. Clap twice, then repeat moving hands up and down.
• Pasalamat – Raise right hand diagonally first, then raise left hand diagonally. Put both hands on shoulders then raise again noth hands diagonally together twice.

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