The Coronation Ball - and a stampede!

Steve and I were invited by our neighbor to THE event in Lipa - The Coronation Ball for the Mutya (Princess) of Lipa 2006. It was a formal event, and Steve got to wear his formal Filipino shirt. It is called a Barong Tagalog, and it is the equivalent of a suit or tux here in the Philippines. Since I did not have a traditional Filipina dress, I wore a dress I had in my closet - after I took it to the seamstress 4 hours before the event to have it taken in (which cost $1). As you can tell, our helper had her first experience taking a picture here - it's just a little crooked.

This was the belle of the ball - the Mutya of Lipa 2006.

A group of dancers performed several beautiful cultural dances for all of us.After the coronation, all the elite of the city of Lipa were called out to participate in a cultural group dance. All the men were wearing Barong Tagalogs, and the women were wearing the cultural dress for women that has puffed sleeves that flatten at the top. They love bright colors, so it was a colorful parade.

After the processional, they all amassed in a large square and proceeded to do what looked like a variation of a very large square dance.

It was actually after this dance that the official ball was over, but that was when it really got exciting. See, there were around 400 people in attendance at the ball. The guests included all the elite and government officials of the city as well as several middle class. However the ball was held in an open-air plaza, and there was at least 5,000 people watching the proceedings from behind the barriers which were guarded by armed soldiers. We noticed the crowd continued to swell as the evening wore on, and the barriers kept getting closer and closer. Well, at 11:00, the coronation was over and they began to announce the various artists who would perform. When the announced the arrival of some guests who were former houseguests on the Filipino version of Big Brother, the crowd outside the barriers went wild and charged the stage, overrunning the tables and guests at the ball. The stampede was frightening to say the least, and I was afraid of what the armed soldiers may do to "protect" the mayor and senator who were in attendance. To our knowledge, no one was seriously injured (though several fell down) in the stampede. We were shoved around, people climbed up on our table, and pushed us out of our chairs so they could stand on them to see. We got out of there as quickly as we could at that point - the crowd was a little too excited and volatile for our liking. Thankfully, we survived the event and had some great cultural experiences too. But I may think twice before accepting an invitation to attend next year...