Cover Story
Festival Nacional del Manito
Ocú pays homage to countryside ways
Photos: Olmedo Carrasquilla
The party starts with the crowning of this year’s Festival del Manito Queen, Yaharia Saez at the inauguration on Thursday, August 13 at 8:00 p.m. at the Fairgrounds in San Sebastian. The festivities will include folklore presentations, regional dances, song and dance. On Friday, August 14, youth contests will begin at 2:00 p.m. in different categories like playing the “mejorana” (a small guitar) and the “tambor” (drums), girls dancing in the “Montuno” style Pollera dress and the traditional old childrens’ game display, like riding pretend horses. At 7:00 p.m., six or seven citizens who have stood guard over “folkloric values” will be honored with the Dr. Rodrigo Nuñez Quintero Medal, followed by a cultural display.
On Saturday, August 15, the “Public Country Wedding” will take place at 10:00 a.m., a real wedding after which a couple rides out of the church on a horse. They are followed by the multitude to go to the fairgrounds, where delicious local food (sancocho, lechona, dulce de leche) is waiting. Music and dancing, of course, are in order. At night, the “Tamarindo Duel” takes place, with 30 actors participating in the recreation of a battle between two young men for a young lady’s heart.
The big parade is at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Over 45 schools from the surrounding areas and even the capital city participate to recreate a grand folkloric display. The main features are “Working Countrymen” who pay homage to those who stick with tradition and work the land and the “Sick Man in a Hammock”, an act which pays tribute to the way sick people used to be transported when there were no cars. The colorful “Diablicos” of Los Santos and Chitre as well as many beautiful ladies in Pollera dresses will be in the parade as well.
Throughout the Festival, three venues will be open with different musical offerings and activities. The are the Jardín Flores del Tamarindo, Jardín Viva Panamá and the Atlas “Toldo”, or stage.
Ocú can be reached by express bus, leaving from the National Transportation Terminal in Albrook (schedules and pricing 974-1395) or by car. The turnoff to Ocú from the Pan American Highway is to the left ten kilometers after the Divisa turnoff to Chitre and Las Tablas as one comes from Panama City and to the right 20 kilometers past Santiago when coming from Chiriquí. Lodging is likely to be sparse in Ocú. But plenty of rooms will be available in the surrounding cities of Santiago and Chitré.
