Camaru: why Magalang celebrates the cricket
Crickets were once a farm snack sold to Angeles buyers. Now they are the emblem of an award-winning Magalang festival.
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Discover Pampanga Editors · October 2026
Illustrative photo. Photo: Thomas Schoch on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · via Wikimedia Commons
In Kapampangan kitchens, camaru, field crickets, are a delicacy. In Magalang, farmers used to sell crickets caught in the fields to buyers who came from Angeles and nearby towns.
A festival that hops
On August 21, 2012, Magalang held its first Camaru Festival, timed for the feast of its patron, Saint Bartholomew. The idea, said then-mayor Malu Paras-Lacson, was that the cricket reflects the town: rural, resilient and ready to hop to greatness.
The festival is now held every third week of August, with a street-dance competition. After a two-year pause during the pandemic, it returned in 2022, and the mayor described it as the town leaping forward again.
On the national stage
In October 2026 the Camaru Festival was named first runner-up for Best Tourism Event, Cultural Festival, at the ATOP Pearl Awards in Ormoc City, after earlier recognition from the Department of Tourism's Region 3 office.
See the Camaru Festival listing.
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Things to do nearby
Attractions
Pampanga State Agricultural University, Magalang
Historic agricultural university founded as La Granja Modelo de Magalang in 1885, known for its Aglibut sweet tamarind.
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San Bartolome Parish Church, Magalang
Magalang's parish of Saint Bartholomew, moved to the present town in 1863 after the Parua River swept away the old settlement.
Attractions
Magalang heliograph towers
Two Spanish-era signal towers from 1863 in Santa Cruz and San Isidro, regarded as important cultural properties.
Where to eat nearby
Bakeries
Carreon's Sweets and Pastries
Magalang sweets shop known for pastillas de leche, the town's classic pasalubong.