The SUN HK : Philippine culture showcased in HK Flower Show

19 February 2023

Tinikling Group in one of their previous presentations.

Philippine culture will return to center stage in the Hong Kong Flower Show, a yearly event organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, which will be held on March 10 to 19.

On permanent display during the 10-day event will be the Philippine pavilion, with a theme that recreates the Pahiyas Festival, a thanksgiving by the farmers of Lucban, Quezon, for their bountiful harvest.

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The pavilion, mounted by the Consulate as its first major project for the year, is expected to display unique Philippine plants, along with other agricultural products and laced with the colorful pahiyas decorations.

In addition, a group of OFWs will also be on the main stage to present 10 native dances in a 30-minute choreography that will include the challenging and crowd-pleasing “Blindfolded Tinikling”, at 10:30 am on March 12.

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This participation by OFW volunteers is a result of efforts by Marie Velarde, president of Tinikling Group since 2007 and vice president of administration of Philippine Alliance HK, to bring back the Filipino dancers after the previous organizer stopped participating in the Flower Show.

“In 2017, I contacted the LCSD via email asking them to include the Philippines again in the cultural show. (I received) no response from them until 2018, when they called me and asked if we could perform in the HK Flower Show for 2019,” Velarde said.

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That presentation was not in the main stage but in the Central Lawn area on the opposite side of Victoria Park. “I never lost hope that we would get to perform on the main stage. They called me last January that they had a change of plans and moved us there,” she added.

An added bonus is that Tinikling Group Of Migrants HK, which Velarde heads, will receive an appreciation award for being a cultural organiser of the Flower Show.

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Aside from the Tinikling Group, the other participants in the Philippine presentation are the Migrant Ilonggo Cultural Dance Troupe, Global Alliance HK, Ilagan City Migrants Alliance HK and Star Pinoy HK, all of which supplied costumes to their own dancers.

For this year, the Hong Kong Flower Show will have hydrangea as the theme flower and "Bliss in Bloom" as the main theme.

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One of its features is the plant exhibit competition, which will be divided into 15 categories, including orchid, Chinese cymbidium, potted plant, cactus and succulent, foliage and carnivorous plant, African violet, bonsai-type plant, floral arrangement in Western style and Oriental style, floral art by school children, primary and secondary school potted plant growing/nursing, and the school garden plot competition.