Perspectives of Palis Lasa festival in the province of Bataan [manuscript] : meanings and representations / Veronica R. Juanta.

Thesis (MAED-SOC) BPSU, 2019.

The general problem of the study is to identify the historical perspectives of the Palis Lasa Festival being celebrated by Brgy. Mabatang, Abucay, Bataan. Data were collected in this study to answer research questions. Thirteen (13) "in-depth, open-ended" (Creswell, 2007) face-to-face interviews were conducted in order to collect detailed data from 23 individuals who have direct experiences of the Palis Lasa Festival to address the research questions. These individuals revealed explicit information pertaining to their varied experiences on participating in the Palis Lasa Festival This research study yielded four major themes such as (1) sense of community and pride, (2) providing economic benefits to the community, (3) Palis Lasa as a religious activity, and (4) problems about the Palis Lasa Festival. The first emergent theme in the qualitative data is the "sense of community and pride". This particular theme includes various sub-themes such as (1) local support for the festival, (2) cultural promotion and source of pride, (3) positive feelings toward the festival, (4) youth involvement, (5) promotion of unity in the community, and (6) the festival as an attraction to others. The second emergent theme in the qualitative data is "Palis Lasa as providing economic benefits to the community" that was generated from a total of 77 coded segments or 21.51% of total coded segments in the data. These theme is further subdivided into two subthemes, which are (1) promotion and commercialization of local products, and (2) livelihood development. The third emergent theme in the qualitative data is "Palis Lasa as a religious activity", which emerged from a total of 44 coded segments or 12.01% of total coded vi segments in the data, cutting across 15 interviewees out of 23 interviewees. For the Mabatanguenos, the Palis Lasa and its primary object, the broom, is symbolical in many aspects, foremost spiritual. The last emergent theme in the qualitative data is "problems about the Palis Lasa Festival", generated from a total of 44 coded segments or 12.29% of total coded segments in the data, cutting across 20 interviewees out of 23 interviewees. The number of interviewees with negative ideas on the festival showed the researcher an evidence that people look at the festival in a negative way such as frustrations and some disappointments. Disappointments and frustrations encountered by interviewees were more on the financial aspects. Based on the aforementioned findings, community-based festival planners and organizers should consider not only the potential economic effects but also the impacts on social function. For example, most participants in this study believed Palis Lasa Festival means community itself and celebration of their own identity. They utilized an opportunity to expand their social capital and sense of community. Thus, the intangible effects should also be emphasized because economic benefits were the first priority for participants in this study. As Beard (2014) suggested, a well-designed festival is an experience-creating journey, and it is a critical issue in the design of a festival or event that will satisfy the stakeholders' demands. The festival sponsors, especially for small community-based festivals, should acknowledge the social benefits derived from festival participation in order to program it better in the future.