 Cultural performance first appeared in the language or the vocabulary of the academic community in 1972 when Milton Singer published his book, When Great Tradition Modernized, an anthropological approach to Indian civilization. Singer was investigating what anthropologists back then were identifying as little tradition and great tradition. His site was the southern Indian village of Madras. He was at first conflicted on how to define the units of observation because as he observed, the Madras is a rich center of activities, performance activities, ranging from storytelling, rituals, prayers to name but a few. In the end, he proposed the concept of cultural performance as a unit of observation in anthropological inquiry, remarking, I shall call these things cultural performances because they include what we in the West usually call by that name. For example, plays, concerts and lectures but they also include prayers, rituals, readings and recitations, rites and ceremonies, festivals and all those things we usually classify under religion and ritual rather than with the cultural and artistic. Since then, cultural performance became an important observable unit in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology. Folklorists, particularly Richard Baumann and Del Himes, also began looking at cultural performance as a starting point in the study of folklore. Del Himes, for instance, talked about folklore as inherently performing. In this regard, folklore is conceived as an artful accomplishment. On the other hand, Richard Baumann explores the relationship of folklore and performance by implicating that performance is a mode of spoken verbal communication consisting in the assumption of responsibility to an audience for a display of communicative competence. In this regard, performance is also a means of communication. However, a significant epoch in this disciplinal formation of cultural performance as an important subject in the study of culture and society is the birth of performance studies through the intermarriage of the disciplines of anthropology and theater studies led by Victor Turner, an anthropologist and Richard Checkner, a theater studies scholar. This might be too simplistic, but the principle behind the conception of cultural performance in performance studies is a proposal to throw off earlier habits of using culture as a noun and to come to terms with the complexity of recasting culture as a verb. J. Loa Lewis is rightfully convinced that the birth of performance studies highlights the understanding of culture based on social activities, therefore, thinking of culture as a grand performance. But what account as a cultural performance? Combining perspectives from anthropologists, folklorists, and performance scholars, the following are the proposed identifiable markers. First, it is an artistic communication in a small group. Second, it is performed before a public even if the efficacy is often intended for a personal advocacy or intention. Third, it is an intervening space between the past and the present, the self and the community, the state and religion, ornament and function, fact and fiction, celebration and solemnity, sacred and the secular, and other related intervening entanglements. And finally, it is implicated as an important community narrative. Following seniors' methodological inquiry, the following are primary components of a cultural performance. One, we have time span. Secondly, organized program of activity or activities. Third, set of performers or the doers of the activities. Fourth, the audience. And finally, the cultural stage or the place and occasion of performance. What about the context of the Philippines? Firstly, it is important to note that these very concept of performing culture is not a new thing to the Filipino people. The Philippines is a nation of cultural performances with all its regional festivities, religious and sacred rituals, political rhetoric in the House of Congress and Senate, and even with the Filipinos' love for beauty pageants, boxing matches and basketball games. Following Milton Singer, Dell Himes, Richard Baumann, Victor Turner and Richard Schechner, the Philippines' house to performance activities which are embodiments of ritualistic communications, public events, continuum between the past and the present and based on collective stories. Often, these are in forms of ritualistic songs and dances performed during community festivities. In this regard, it is notable to reinstate the tourism strategy during the time of President Karazon Siakino advertising or marketing the Philippines as fiesta archipelago. This is because every region, more so every province, is performing its own cultural performance vis-a-vis its celebration of fiesta manifested in festivals. At the same time, the country is also a nation of different cultural performances implicating domestic affairs and yet perform before a public and embodying a sense of collective narrative making a unique artistic means of communicating among the members of the group. For example, in the city of Angeles in Pampanga, every Good Friday, the congregation of the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre locally known as Apang Mamakalulu or the Dead Christ, in Lorde Sur, Anghila City, mourned the death of Christ right after the Catholic Church endorsed ritual of the veneration of the cross. At 3pm, the veneration of the cross commences and is headed by the shrine rector. At 4pm, the veneration ritual, the presider, the priest, leads the congregation in approaching a cross and then offers a gesture of respect to all that the cross represents. This gesture includes kneeling and bowing before the cross and then kissing it. Normally, a limbon or a procession is held right after the Catholic Church veneration ritual. It is a depiction or re-enactment of Jesus' passion and death while the limbon is common in many Catholic Churches in Anghila City or elsewhere in the Philippines at the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, the congregation participates in a mourning ritual as the image of Apang Mamakalulu is brought down from its altar and is paraded around the vicinity of the church or the shrine. The image is also accompanied by a life-size image of Matardalorosa or the sorrowful mother privately owned by a community member. The ritual is organized by the Apu Volunteer Group composed of the shrine's different lay organizations. For about 30 minutes, the in-house limbon is led by the shrine's ministry of liturgy head. Behind the image of the Apang Mamakalulu are the black veiled women volunteers carrying vigil candles. They mourn histrionically as if mourning a family member. After the women are the shrine's active organizations like the Knights of the Blessed Sacrament and Apu Youth Ministry followed by the image of the Matardalorosa standing in a beautifully decorated caro or procession wagon. Behind the image are lay members or some volunteers and some invited by the rector dressed as apostles. The last to follow is the rest of the congregation. After the procession, the Apang Mamakalulu is brought in front of the altar. The crying veiled women continue their histrionic mourning and cry for about 20 minutes while delivering a prayer in the Pampango language. The delivery is almost chant-like similar to the Kapampangan Pasyon reading at the Kubol. Right after the mourning, the women offer the vigil candles around the image. The women afterwards leave the church to pay respect to Apang Mamakalulu. The image of the Matardalorosa is also brought out of the church. Church, ashes and asherets lead the devotees to the image. The devotion or the kissing of Apang Mamakalulu normally ends at midnight but one time the organizer ended the devotion at 10 p.m. One of the apostles, assuming the role of Peter, faces the devotees and announces that Apang Mamakalulu is about to be buried. The apostles then bring the image out of the church and transfer it to the David ancestral house which is adjacent to the shrine. The transfer is a symbolic gesture of burying the dead Christ. The ancestral house is a strategic site of transfer because it is the same site where the image of Apang Mamakalulu was kept prior to the transfer of the shrine to the arch diocese of Pampanga in early 2000. The apostles lay the image in one of the ancestral house rooms. There, Apang Mamakalulu is symbolically undressed while lying in bed. The head apostle enters and brings with him a new set of clothes. Apang Mamakalulu is then dressed with this new set of clothes. Afterwards, the image is delicately covered by white blanket. Everyone in the room delivers a prayer before the image after which Apang Mamakalulu is left inside the room prior to its return to the shrine on Easter Sunday. Another example is this cultural performance in Pundakit Zambales. Since water is an important element in the social cultural life of the people in Pundakit, the boat also represents a significant part in the people's everyday life. Normally, a household from this village contracts a boat maker from Porok Tres to make one for the family. Once the boat is constructed, family members are not allowed to use it until it undergoes the ritual of Bindishon. A Catholic dominant community, households often contact the priest from a nearby town where the closest parish priest is located. On the day of the Bindishon, the boat is placed offshore and decorated normally with colorful sweets or candies in plastic containers. Other households include packed meals in the decorations. During the Bindishon, the priest recites prayers from a book of prayers. Afterwards, the priest begins to sprinkle holy water to members of the household first and then on the boat. While the boat is being sprinkled with holy water, the priest invites everyone to say the Lord's prayer, Hail Mary and Glory be three of the well-known prayers in the Catholic tradition. Afterwards, the owner commonly recites his own prayer before everyone. A resident of Scythia Nagsasa recalls that when she had her boat blessed, she was reciting this Bindishonan nyo po ang sasa kaya tiyatid ng bankang ito, ilayun nyo po sila sa kapahamakan. Please bless whoever rides this boat, take him away from any danger. After the benediction, the boat owner usually throw some coins which signals the start of agawan. At first, the kids begin to compete for the coins thrown by the owner. Afterwards, the young visitors start to get the plastic containers hooked on the boat. If food is hooked on the boat, older visitors also join in the agawan. As soon as the boat is blessed, all the materials are consumed by the visitors from the agawan. The boat owner and a boatman push the boat to the shore. While on shore, normally two men or sometimes women ride the boat and begin the first journey. The visitors then applaud the first sojourn and wish the two men good luck. Or take for example, the Santa Cruzan as another example of cultural performance. In many Tagalog communities, it is called Sagala. In other regions of the country, Santa Cruzan is known for several names. Dotok in the Bikal region, Katapusan or Pag-Alai in the southern Tagalog region of Batangas and Laguna, Sabatan in Pampanga. Cultural commentators Abe Florendo and Zardo Austria explain this cultural performance is believed to have originated from Malolos Bulakan where the community performs a comedy titled Tibag by an unknown author. The play narrates the legend of Queen Helena and her court as they search for the Holy Cross or the wooden figure where Jesus, Christ for the Christian and the Catholic community was crucified. Today, the reenactment of many Santa Cruzan is no longer based on a performance of a staged comedy but a parade of muses that plays important characters particularly Reina Elena and Hisan Constantino. Traditionally, the Santa Cruzan is a parade or a ritual pageant where young women don costumes elaborate gowns of mythical characters, historical and cultural figures and different titles attributed to the Virgin Mary. Accompanied by the town's folk singing emotional songs for the Virgin Mary, often the popular Latin prayer Juste Salve and the Ave Maria and by young men commonly family members holding sulo or torches to illuminate the night each woman is commonly accompanied by two men carrying an arco a decorated bamboo arch covered with colorful flowers and paper mache. On top of each arch is the character title the muse represents. At the end of the pageant Reina Elena and Hisan Constantino guarded by a group of 12 men commonly called the doce pares. In San Luis Batangas the pageant starts at the village's capilia or a small church. The delegation begins with musicos a brass band typically playing popular tunes. The band is followed by a group of higher teenage youths performing the atea tihan and a group of young majorettes. The actual pageant then follows beginning with small children dressed in colorful gowns. With them are flowers to be offered to the Virgin Mary at the end of the pilgrimage inside the capilia. The Hermano with his family members are next in line. On the Hermano's hand is the Emmy a ritualistic scepter-like object covered with flowers and a crescent moon and star figures placed on top. Next in line are the sagalas or muses. To distinguish their roles, they wear sashes the Hermano provided with the inscription of the roles assigned to them. As in the traditional Santa Cruzan the cultural, historical and mythical figures are walking before the Marian titles. In addition to the common Marian titles San Luis Santa Cruzan included other Marian titles such as the Lady of Caesaisay Lourdes and Fatima. Unlike the traditional Santa Cruzan the young girls, costumbas angels are lined up only after these Marian titles. These young girls are carrying placards spelling Ave Maria. Immediately after the angels are Reina Elena and Konstantino played by the Hermano's daughter and son. Now since the introduction of Catholicism in the Philippines, this tradition of performance has lived on for more than 100 years. Today, the pageant ritual has evolved in several typologies. In Marikina and in Malabon, the annual Santa Cruzan is performed by the Bacala and transvestites. In Pasay City, at the mall of Asia the fashion designers association of the Philippines host an annual Santa Cruzan where members of the association are competing among themselves as they interpret the different characters of the Santa Cruzan through their gowns and costumes. Now with these examples we can think of Philippine cultural performances as processes of first, Panata, second, special affairs or events and community celebrations through festivals. Broadly, Panata is a religious vow whereby the devotee promises to do a sacrifice for his faith in hopes of being rewarded by divine response to his prayers. This religious act is often times associated with the Catholic doctrine. Most of the time it is discussed as a colorful performative cultural text linking pagdamay or sympathy with what Jesus the cries in the Christian and Catholic frameworks experience when he was sentenced to die on the cross. Moreover, Panata may also be understood as a pathway or a link of the devotees to their almighty. It's also particularly attributed to the devotees as petitions and intentions as well as to their acts of thanksgiving before their almighty. Several acts of Panata in the Philippines are mostly performed during the Lenten season such as the above example of the funeral of the dead Christ. During the fist days of local saints, Catholic communities also performed colorful Panatas such as the Atiatihan in Aklan, Dinagyang in Iloilo and the Sinulog in Sibu all performed every January in honor of the Santonino or the Child Christ or the Peña Francia in Aga City performed for a week in September. It should also be noted that Panata as a performance is often directed towards one thing. It is a personal act performed before a community. Panata is an experience of sacrifice done individually yet performed for the good of others as well. Thus, the community is invoked as the end all of this social phenomenon. About special affairs or events, these are cultural performances involving a much smaller group. Most of these performances are habits or practices family members such as weddings, baptisms, funerals to name but a few. We can call these cultural performances as personal habits transformed into ritualized activities performed before a public. Anthropologist J. Loa Lewis explains that these are ritualized performances to be understood by participants. First, as a matter of concern second, as creator of consensus within the smaller group or the subgroup of a community. Third, as engaged participation by the subgroup and other individuals linked to the subgroup. In other words, there is a possibility of detachment from other participants. Then, these are recreated performances as they may have been or what we may think of as imagined tradition. Finally, these are linked and encompassing frameworks but not really integral to the subgroup. The Bindishon ng Banka described a while ago is a good example of such cultural performance. The Kasipa performed by male members in Marawi City is another example. This performance is a traditional game commonly performed during the entronment of a datu or a sultan. It is also performed in the town plaza as a display of skills. In the Kasipa, a leader performer kicks a ratan ball up in the air. All performers should maintain the ball in the air. If the ball falls down to the ground at corresponding area of a performer, the performer is considered out of the game. The last performer standing is proclaimed winner. In an entronment the datu or the sultan awards the performer standing and the last performer standing a gift commonly informed of cash. Finally, a cultural celebration or a festival is a form of theatrical event. In this cultural performance, the performers exhibiting his or her personality, displaying artistic skills and creating a symbolic figure. The audience on the other hand reacts to the actions of the performer both emotionally and intellectually through the intuitive and cognitive processes which continue through the entire performance. The appreciation of the audience and the performance becomes a source of inspiration for the artistry and creativity of the performance. Both the performer and the audience occasionally bring the life of the figure into completion. Finally, examples of these performances are literally colorful, donning on elaborate and symbolical costumes and ritualistically performed via songs and dances making such performances spectacular. Such is the case of the different festivals from the regions of the archipelago. Aliwan in Manila, Kidapawan in Davao, Agal Agal in Tawi Tawi, Pintados in Leyte, Dinagyang in Iloilo, Mascara in Bacolod to name but a few. Moreover, it is also important to note that these performances are not only treasured because of their spectacular attributions but also because these performances are activating the shared values, identities and histories of communities. For instance, the Pintados in Leyte features performance of songs, dances and body art. It is performed annually every 29 January in Tacloban City where all municipalities of the province gather together and perform their own renditions of the Pintados based on a story reflecting their respective municipalities. The festival was founded to commemorate the pre-Hispanic locals of the island who, as Hispanic annotators noted, were elaborate and colorful body tattoos. To sum up, a cultural performance is an artistic communication in a small group performed before a public even if the intention is very personal. Embodies an intervening space between the past and the present, the self and the public, the state and religion, function and creativity, fact and fiction and celebration and solemnity. A cultural performance is also performed to celebrate a community narrative. In context, a cultural performance may be understood as a process of personal devotion or popularly known as Panata, ritual-like small gathering or event and a commemoration or celebration of shared values, identities and shared histories. Thank you very much for listening.