The Angeles City Tourism office (ACTO) has capped this city’s celebration of the National Heritage Month this year by crowning the new Reyna ning Las Flores delos Angeles.
Eighteen-year-old Michelle Kaye Macalacad of Barangay Sapalibutad was hailed as the new Reyna Ning Las Flores on May 26 at the Holy Family Academy Gymnasium in Sto. Rosario Heritage District.
Macalacad bested fifteen beautiful ‘flores’ (flowers/females) who paraded downtown Angeles wearing their floral-inspired traditional Filipiniana terno.
“More than a pageantry, the Angeleños, especially the participating lasses from different villages in the city, take this as a manifestation of their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” said Tourism Officer John Montances.
Highlighting the event is the symbolic offering of flower garlands to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a form of thanksgiving. Intricately-designed Filipiniana gowns crafted by the city’s top notch couturiers also wowed expectators despite the program delay caused by the torrential rains.
“We are elated to share that Holy Family Academy offered their gymnasium as a contingency venue should the heavy downpour of rain continues. This is a good indicator that public and private partnership is really alive in the city,” Montances said.
Las Flores delos Angeles is also an attempt to raise awareness and instill appreciation among Angeleños on the city’s cultural customs through preserving and developing cultural events and utilizing public spaces for creative and artistic expressions.
Lasses who received special awards during the cultural night include Flores ning Sta. Teresita Angelica I. Limbac for Best in Garland Arrangement, and Flores ning San Jose Patricia Ann L. Biacora for Best in Filipiniana Costume.
This is the city’s third year of staging the cultural event. (AC-CIO with reports from ACTO and Jaycee Manansala)