Hermeneutic analysis of the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival as a development communication medium in Lucban, Quezon, Philippines
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights
ISSN: 2514-9792
Article publication date: 21 May 2019
Issue publication date: 21 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Only few festival studies in the Philippines attempted to examine the capability of festivals as folk media to communicate development. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development-oriented activities and messages in the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher conducted participant observation, ethnographic photography, key informant interview and record review. A historical analysis of the festival’s background, thematic analysis of its list of programs, visual analysis of the photographs guided by Barthes’ (1964) semiology and hermeneutics were employed.
Findings
Formerly a native ritual before the Hispanic rule in the country, the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival is currently held by the Local Government of Lucban, Quezon, primarily for touristic purposes. The festival’s activities in 2015 reflected the municipality’s dependence on agriculture and the residents’ religiosity, skills and creativity. The adornments during the said celebration likewise gave a glimpse of the residents’ social status, livelihood sources and reverence to Saint Isidore. Through hermeneutics, the researcher also found issues on the residents’ idolatry and their motivation to display their produce during the festival.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study can only hold true for the 2015 celebration of the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival. Despite this, the study finds hermeneutics and Barthes’ (1964) semiology useful for festival studies. It also appeals to folk media studies and postcolonial theories.
Originality/value
This research provides an unconventional methodology for festival studies, which contributes to the very limited hermeneutic tourism studies abroad and folk media studies in the Philippines.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author expresses his gratitude to Dr Daylinda Banzon-Cabanilla and his advisory committee in the graduate school: Dr Serlie Barroga-Jamias, Prof Ma. Teresita B. Osalla and Atty. Eleno O. Peralta.
Citation
Del Rosario, P.J.B. (2019), "Hermeneutic analysis of the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival as a development communication medium in Lucban, Quezon, Philippines", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 203-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-01-2019-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited