The photo posted here in my blog is the world’s largest hat made from pandan straw leaves, here in Cavinti, Laguna, they call it the sambalilo, a local term for “straw hat”. Last Aug 1, 2016, the town of Cavinti was placed in the books of Guinness World Record 2016 for carrying the title “largest sambalilo hat in the world”. The official measurement and awarding took place during the 1st week of August at the Sambalilo Festival, an annual festival of Cavinti, Laguna celebrating their local production of straw hats made by their local weavers. The awarding was officiated by Swapnil Mahesh Dangarikar, a Guinness Adjudicator, who flew here in our country to do the official measurement and awarding.
I did some research and I found out that it was a record setting under “sambalilo hat” but if you look at the similarity for a “straw hat” you can say that it’s a record breaking feat because the previous measurement of a straw hat made by Poland is 6.65 M in diameter, for Cavinti their sambalilo hat carry the measurement of 13.05 M in diameter. If you compare it, the 2006 Poland record got beaten by 2016 new record.
The world record project of Cavinti was made possible by the joint effort and collaboration of the town folks lead by Cavinti Mayor Milbert L. Oliveros and its LGU team. They organized a 30 day project to complete the world’s largest sambalilo hat in time for the town’s Sambalilo Festival.
Cavinti sambalilo hat weavers joined forces in assembling the giant hat, but the assembly is just the start, because they need to raise fund for the officiating and permit needed to submit to Guinness World Record and that’s a big sum of money. Cavinti is so lucky that they received a lot of donors, sponsors and support from the town folks. The Filipino “bayanihan” spirit still lives (as in working together as one) and because of the success of their giant sambalilo project, this will level up their tourism campaign and promotion as being the record holder for the largest sambalilo hat and home of the water falls in the Philippines.
Height: 2.00 M
Width: 13.05 M
Diameter: 13.05 M
Materials: Pandan leaves
I was with the #EATgetaway blogger team and we’re amazed at the size of the sambalilo hat, we first saw it during the night we arrive in Cavinti, Laguna, a day before the official assessment by Guinness World Record.
I admit, I was so nervous the next day because I didn’t researched about the previous record holder, but according to our friend Herald Cantre Bebis, They are confident that we will get the title because they planned already in doubling the size of a previous record holder ( I think he refer to that 2006 Poland record).
August 1 was the deadline day and after all hard work, Cavinti, Laguna finally got their Guinness World Record certificate. According to Cavinti Mayor Milbert L. Oliveros, this effort is not just for Cavinti, it is also for the Philippines!
Congratulations sir!
Here’s our group hug photo after the awarding. Photo with our blogger friends.
Thanks to Mayor Oliveros, and to the Tourism office team Nitzshell Torres-Dela Torre, Herald Cantre Bebis and Colin for inviting us and accommodating our stay in Cavinti for 3 days to enjoy and feel the Sambalilo Festival and also experience the extreme eco adventure trail.
At the Sambalilo Festival, we got to learn on how these sambalilo were made. It is made from a dried and flatten pandan leaves. After stripping it into pieces, they will use a wooden mold as guide to make a head insert of the hat and start weaving it with dried pandan strips.
Cavinti weavers works so fast in making one sambalilo hat, I think they can produce 3-5 pieces in one day. And they sold these basic hat for a cheap price of PHP 35, but for a much premium design the sambalilo hat can reach the price up to PHP 3,000.
Sambalilo Festival also organized some sambalilo design contest, This contest will invite the top weavers to come up a special and unique design.
The sambalilo making is present in our country for centuries, and in every household, one or two female member are into weaving, they make these straw hats, bags, and banig bed as their local product and also use it as a gear for their farming.
Colorful arch posted around Cavinti, Laguna.
Watch out for my Sambalilo Festival blog series, to be posted soon.
For me this house is the most Instagramish of them all.
All hats are well organized in color.
Perfect to use it as background for our selfie.
Hahaha, we freaked out when we encountered this life size mannequin at night.. we thought that some drunk guy got stuck standing under the Sambalilo Festival arch
With Herald and his friend who organize sports events in Cavinti.
He invited us to check out their mountain bike race this August in Tagaytay.
Photo op before the street dance at Sambalilo Festival
If you are plan to visit Cavinti, Laguna next year. I suggest you book yourself a visit for the 1st week of August for their annual Sambalilo Festival.
These 4x4 roadsters are ready to conquer the extreme terrain here in Cavinti.
Watch out for my teary eye blog story about our adventure going to the underground cave of Cavinti.
Thanks for reading again my blog post.
Congrats to Cavinti for the world record title and for the success of their Sambalilo Festival.
Its my 2nd time here and I think I should visit Cavinti every year for their festival and also eco adventure offerings!
See you soon Cavinti!
Check out my 15 part blog series about the Cavinti Eco Adventure Tour 2015
visit: http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/search/label/cavinti%20eco%20adventure%20tour%20blog%20series
