San Juan City is holding its annual “Wattah Wattah” water festival today, June 24, and if getting soaked with water from pails and water guns isn’t your idea of a fun thing to do at the start of the work week, stay out of town.
The city honors its patron saint, Saint John the Baptist, by “baptizing” neighbors and passersby with water, whether or not they want to be part of the festival. This has led to complaints and confrontations over the years between people in the fiesta mood and those who just wanted to get to work or school on time.
To make things more orderly, the San Juan City government has come out with the following rules for this year’s “basaan”:
*Basaan is from 6:00 am to 12:00 noon only
*Throwing dirty water is prohibited, as is throwing water with chemicals mixed in
*Throwing ice tubig, or water frozen in plastic bags, is also prohibited.
*People under the influence of alcohol will not be allowed to join the basaan
Most important of all, revelers have also been prohibited from opening the doors of passing cars to force motorists and commuters to join in the fun.
Reader Interactions