The Origin of San Mateo’s Kakanin Festival

Happy Fiesta ng Kakanin on the town of San Mate, province of Rizal.

San Mateo, Rizal has been well known for its Kakanin Festival, a parade of rice delicacies together with traditional dances that displays the beauty and the bountiful year of the town. Parishioners, devotees, and different organizations takes part in the parade in grand floats where each of them presents different kinds of kakanin that the town is proud of. A solemn mass is celebrated before the parade and the kakanins are given for free after.

Suman and puto, of different varieties, kutsinta, palitaw, sapin-sapin, biko, and even the seasonal bibingka and puto-bungbong that are usually seen at markets are the stars in the day of the festival. These rice delicacies has been the source of income of many of the people of San Mateo, being peddled in a basket or sold at markets and some at their own store.

The festival was first introduced by then parish priest, Mnsgr. Manuel Balbago Jr. for the celebration of the feast of Nuestra Senora de Aranzazu. Since it started 19 years ago, the 9^th of September has been different for the people of San Mateo. Bright colors and smiles became more evident and the streets has always been loud of joys and praises for the patron of natural disasters and dear Mother of San Mateo, Our Lady of Aranzazu. (Emman Velasco)