Cultural Aspect

KARANSA FESTIVAL

Every month of September, Danao annually celebrates Karansa Festival that showcases the past and present heritage and culture. Karansa Festival is a street dancing and showdown competition which is held every 3rd Sunday, a day before the city fiesta. The festival which started in 1980 is characterized by a gaily parade with a number of participating contingents dressed in colorful costumes, finding their way through the streets while dancing the Karansa accompanied by the beatings of drums. Karansa symbolizes the true spirit of Danawanons. It is a dance expressing one's happiness.

Karansa is performed in 4 basic steps: the (1) kiay, (2) karag, (3) kurug, and (4) karahay that jibes with the Karansa official beat. The sway, shake and judder dance movements are discernible during street dancing.

Karansa Festival was established during the administration of then mayor Ramon “Boy” D. Durano Jr. It was inspired by the Cebu’s Sinulog that started in January 1980. Before Karansa, Moro-moro was the most popular attraction in Danao. It was a stage play showed annually in the past in line with the city activities intended for fiesta celebration. Moro-moro started in early 1940s by playwright Mano Atong Ormoc that attracted local viewers. But it was Vicente “Inting” Camoro, a native of Suba, a city councilor (from 1968-1979) and a renowned playwright in Danao who was responsible for making the “Moro-moro” so popular by staging and directing it for so many years before the Karansa. But when he died of a heart attack in 1979, he virtually left the show with no one to carry it. Karansa then was established and instantly gained popularity among Danawanons and spectators from other places.

Historically, Karansa depicts pleasantness among Danawanons of long ago. It has no religious connotation for it is actually a “get-together-dance” tradition by Danawanon folks in the past who gathered themselves at night after dinner and spending their time talking, laughing, singing, drinking TUBA (bahal or kinutil) and dancing (in karansa fashion) as they enjoy the night together to relieve their boredom from a hard day’s work. In the past, this tradition was so typical and common in a number of places in Danao and not an exclusive tradition by the potters living in Suba as others would say.

The word “karansa” is a word native to Barangay Suba. The people of the barangay were known potters of Danao. Pottery is one of the many popular products of the city. It is customary for the pottery makers to drink tuba(coconut wine) to feel relax and dance as an expression of thanksgiving after a hard day’s work. They would say “Tara na magkaransa na ta!”

Today, Karansa - a pride and treasure of Danao, is a program of cultural event, a festival which is open to all forms of dances as long as the basic dance steps are showcased and it is an offering to the patron saint of Danao – Sto. Tomas de Villanueva.