The province of Nueva Vizcaya lived up to its tourism branding of Naturally Vibrant at the recently-concluded 15th Grand Ammungan Festival, which also celebrated the province’s 185th founding anniversary.
Bannered by the theme of unity and sustainable development, the festival highlighted the province’s colorful cultural diversity, unprecedented economic progress and good governance over the past few years.
The festival kicked off with a fiery start with the opening of the Nueva Vizcaya Travel and Tourism Expo by Department of Tourism Undersecretary Ferdinand Jumapao who represented Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco.
Now on its third year, the Expo features booths from the 15 municipalities, each showcasing their unique fiestas or festivals, tourist attractions, agricultural produce, food products, crafts, souvenir items, as well as distinct ways of life through song and dance.
Grand Ammungan Festival director general and former provincial governor Ruth Padilla, the festivity is a gathering in thanksgiving, and unity and diversity of 18 indigenous peoples and ethnolinguistic groups who have made the province their home.
Among these groups are the Ifugao, Gaddang, Isinai, Dumagat, Kalanguya and Bugkalot tribes which have made the province a cultural potpourri.
Ammungan is a tribal Gaddang word which means coming together or gathering, and is similar to the Ilocano term ummungan, which has the same concept.
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