LUBI-LUBI (COCONUT) FESTIVAL

LUBI-LUBI (COCONUT) FESTIVAL
August 15 | Calubian, Leyte
The humble coconut tree gets its day in the spotlight as the town celebrates its Lubi-Lubi Festival.

Legend has it that the numerous coconut trees now standing in Calubian, Leyte, all came from just one nut found floating in a river by an early inhabitant. The town now symbolizes the coconut industry in Eastern Visayas , the country’s third largest coconut producing region. Its name is derived from “lubi” – local for coconut, and so Calubian means abundance of coconuts .

Calubian’s less than 30,000 people always pay homage to the “tree of life” during their fiesta in the middle of August. The annual Lubi-lubi dance festival extols the many uses of the coconut parts as costumes, props, and accessories. The dance is also in homage to the town’s patron saints, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Roque.

And there is no other fitting moniker than the tree of life for locals – coconut trees have provided for their means of livelihood. Aside from copra (dried coconut meat that is processed into cooking oil, coconut virgin oil, or coco-diesel), every part of the coconut practically can be used as raw materials for handicraft makers, such as twigs used for decor, sheaths for hats or bags, and leaf midribs for decor items and brooms. Other tree parts can be used for commercial purposes, such as coconut water for vinegar or coconut gel, trunk for housing material, leaves for food wrappers, sap for wine, and coconut shells for charcoal.

But there is certainly more to Calubian than mere abundance of coconuts in its 13,760 hectares. Calubian’s coastline formation is ideal for swimming, water rides, and scuba diving. It is one idyllic place where cattle wildly roam around the fenced pasture land; and aside from coconut, forest trees, acacia trees, grasslands, shrubs, and mangroves also enhance its scenic country appeal.