WHAT’S summer in the Philippines without fiestas, that traditional excuse for a grand old time when the community pulls out all stops to whoop it up. While held year-round in local cities, towns and barangays, the fiesta seems to hit its apogee when the sun is highest. The so-called queen of fiestas, the Flores de Mayo literally translates to the Flowers of May and is held in every nook and cranny of the islands during the hottest, muggiest month of the year. It’s telling that the Flores de Mayo is alternately known as the Santacruzan, an event that celebrates the discovery of the Holy Cross, Today, the Santacruzan has evolved into a nine-day religious affair that ends in an extravagant procession. It is ritualistic and ostentatious, at once a blend of Christian piety and paganism, and equal parts religious observance and beauty contest.

While fiestas usually revolve around religious events or are named after patron saints, the significance of summer and all its evident fecundity make it an apt time to make merry. The fiesta then turns into thanksgiving to God—and the gods—for the bounty of harvests and good graces. Fiestas also serve as an appeal for gifts and grace, as Obando, Bulacan’s fertility rites, held on May 17-19, make clear. Childless couples are made to dance and flirt as a way to entreat the heavens to bless them with children.

According to the late great Nick Joaquin, almost every major fiesta in the Philippines has its roots in the pre-colonial period. “The god Bathala created the land and the sea and his creations have always been part of the actual and mystical way of life in the Philippines. The sea and the land provide food and shelter, but the spirits of nature who dwell in these places are not always benign and must be appeased. When the Spaniards came they brought with them a new God and new spirits who had to be honored too. To the adaptable Filipino, a celebration for one god should please another as well.”

There are as many fiestas in the Philippines as there are towns. Not that that’s fixed, of course. Fiestas are constantly evolving, with new excuses to celebrate, well, just about anything. A new development with a smattering of homes may choose to mark themselves as a functioning community by electing both a barangay captain and a date for their fiesta. Baguio’s Flower Festival held in February is a fairly recent invention but one that’s eagerly anticipated by tourists.

Of course, the king of fiestas is still said to be Christmas, when the build-up begins with first “ber” month and won’t end until we’ve stretched the grueling festivity to the first week of the following year when we mark the feast of the Three Kings. Today, that’s even stretched further in Manila. To show you how much we love a fiesta, increasingly, Pinoys have judiciously kept some of their holidays trimmings beyond the Epiphany to prepare for the Chinese New Year, a moveable feast usually held in late January or February.

Then, of course, comes the big Valentine ’s Day hoopla. Not a fiesta in the strict sense of the word but neither is Chinese New Year indigenous to us. But any old excuse to par-tay, Philippine style, yes? Kaya piyesta na rin ang araw ng mga puso.

Kayo, how do you celebrate the traditional Filipino fiesta abroad? Send your stories and pictures to feedback@onephil.com