Siniloan, Laguna - Guilingan Festival

Siniloan, Laguna - Guilingan Festival

Guilingan or stone grinder/grindstone, an old style rice grinder being used for kalamay, puto at latik , these are local delicacies of the town.

Guilingan Festival is being held annually in the month of August.

The annual cultural festivity of the town is named the “Gilingan Festival” to commemorate its foundation day held on the last Friday of August.  In the year 1583, Siniloan was established as a town by the Spanish colonizers with “Guiling – Guiling” as its first name.  According to anecdotes as narrated by the townsfolk’s’ the origin of the name is what locals refer to as the “gilingang bato” or grindstones  that women utilized to grind rice and were seen by the colonizers as they pass through the field.
 

Siniloan is a second class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 35,363 people..The people call themselves as Siniloeño/a or Siniloense in Filipino.

Sinilóan lies between the plains of the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Laguna de Bay, bounded between the municipality of Mabitac on the west, Pañguil on the east, Real, Quezon on the North and Laguna de Bay on the South. Fámy which was formerly a small barrio of Sinilóan and known as Barrio Calumpáng was separated from Sinilóan in 1910, while the town Mabitac, also formerly a barrio of Sinilóan, was separated from the town in 1613. A river named Río Romelo runs through the center of the town and is used for fishing ground and irrigation purposes. The town proper or población is about 84 kilometres (52 mi) from Manila, passing Manila East Road or Marcos Highway, and about 113 kilometres (70 mi) via the South Luzon Expressway passing the town of Santa Crúz, the capital of the province.

Sinilóan is a center of education, commerce and transportation, serving towns in eastern Laguna and some towns from the provinces of Quezon and Rizal. The municipality has active business and trade activities.