Batanes Day was originally conceived to celebrate the historical moment when we started to imagine ourselves as belonging to one “community” (or province) with a shared identity, aspiration, and destiny.

In many Austronesian-speaking societies, unity and relatedness are usually established and maintained through sharing a common meal or a common substance. The Ivatans are no exception to this Austronesian archetype. All social gatherings in Batanes involve communal consumption of food. These commensal events strengthen the bonds that tie people at various level of social formation: household (asa-ka-vahay), kindred group (kalipusan), and community (kavahayan).

The Batanes Day as Vunung Festival is conceived to feature this indigenous form of community-making which is the original goal of the Batanes Day celebration.

The Batanes Day 2023 central management committee together with the cultural group conceived the name “Vunung Festival” for the annual Batanes foundation day celebration considering the socio-cultural values of vunung, its historical rootedness, cultural significance, and its progressive relevance to the lives of Ivatans. Where there is payvunungan, there is celebration, and where there is celebration, there is the antecedent of a hard work or a significant achievement of an individual, a family or the entire community.

There are several occasions (from birth to death) where there is payvunungan in the Ivatan way of life. There is panyusan, panilibran, fiesta, paychakuvutan or punsiun, serbado, pakavusan su tataya, kapangdeng, kapayvanuvanuwa, kapaymuha su uvi/dukay/paray, panivan, pasuyran, payatpan/payvuvungan, kavayavayatan nu malipulipus (Family reunion), pakavusan su dasal nu nadiman/ pamaskuan.

Other celebrations where there is kapayvunung are: thanksgiving on graduating in academic degree, passing a board examination, retirement, school foundation day and the big feast day on Batanes Foundation Day.

Kapayvunung is a thriving culture in Batanes where there is a government program for culinary upscaling and abundance of the genuine leaf-wrapping materials for its promotion and preservation. It fits the campaign to shun the use of non-biodegradable food wrapping materials. Vunung is something that is catchy and amazing to Batanes tourism industry because the common kabaya wrapper tells several other Ivatan traditions that go with it. The art of food wrapping in payvunungan demonstrates the delicate balance of Ivatans and the environment.

“Un as, an mautan anti u kabaya du kasanib nu kapamunung su kanekanen?”
This will spring up another province-wide activity of propagating tipuhu/ chipuhu/ atipuhu in several ways.

We want to recognize and institutionalize a festival name for the annual celebration of Batanes Foundation Day which shall feature the embodiment of the rich history and distinct cultural heritage of Batanes. Through this “Vunung Festival”, the week-long activities are designed towards demonstrating and enriching the culture of kapayvunung in the everyday lives of Ivatan communities. It is likewise desired that through this festival, the Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd) in public schools in Batanes shall imbibe the values of kapayvunung, integrate them in their lessons, and intensify the immersion of IPEd students to these community activities and festivities.

Likewise, the festival aims to improve the economic status of the people as the festival itself promotes tourism in the province. One of the elements of a festival according to Dr. Hornedo is the abundance of that thing that is being celebrated. Vunung is partly chosen because of the growing preparation of vunung in cultural activities as well as in tourism.