festival Archives • langyaw

Colorful Shariff Kabunsuan Festival in Cotabato City

Iâ€™ve been wanting to witness the Shariff Kabunsuan Festival in Cotabato City for its colorful guinakit boats. And thanx to an assignment, I was there for the 22nd iteration of this beautiful local Muslim festival. The colorful five-day event last 15-19 December 2019 was a celebration of Islamic heritage, local culture and products. Guinakit Fluvial Parade opens the festival Early in the morning, I headed to the city port where the Guinakit Fluvial Parade will happen. This is a reenactment of the arrival of Shariff…Continue Reading “Colorful Shariff Kabunsuan Festival in Cotabato City” →

Bambanti Festival, Ilagan’s biggest celebration

Places

It was nice to be back in Ilagan City, Isabela’s capital, up in North Luzon as we visited to witness one of the grandest celebrations in this part of the Philippines: the Bambanti Festival. I first witnessed this unique festival back in 2017, paying homage to the bambanti, or scarecrow. I was amazed at the pomp and pageantry, including the big budget productions being mounted. Being an agricultural province, the scarecrow has been an important part of the vast lands devoted to corn, tobacco and…Continue Reading “Bambanti Festival, Ilagan’s biggest celebration” →

Bambanti Festival celebrates Isabela’s bounty

Places

Bambanti Festival makes a colorful splash in the province of Isabela in Region 2 as a celebration of her bounty, the resiliency, strength and resoluteness of her people despite adversity and determination in its bid to become the premier agro-industrial hub in the Pacific. It is symbolized by the bambanti, the local term for scarecrow. The Bambanti Festival used to be celebrated every May, as part of Isabela Day, starting in 1997. But in 2013, Governor Faustino Dy III declared it as a separate festival…Continue Reading “Bambanti Festival celebrates Isabela’s bounty” →

Color & frenzy at Kalibo’s Ati-atihan festival

Places

It was a frenzy as costumed dancers, most in elaborate, multi-colored headresses and garb, danced in abrupt and syncopated movements to the beat of drums. At first look, their’s is a somewhat wild, agitated and chaotic, feels primeval, but it’s one orderly mass just going around Pastrana Plaza in Kalibo during the Ati-atihan Festival. Kalibo’s Ati-atihan, in homage to the Sto. Nino is said to be the oldest festival in the country having its roots way back centuries even before the Spaniards came. It was…Continue Reading “Color & frenzy at Kalibo’s Ati-atihan festival” →

Dinagyang Festival: The colorful Kasadyahan Fiesta

Places

The Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo is a very colorful event which is held primarily for the Sto. NiÃ±o (sadsad). Culminating on the fourth Sunday of January, it is one of the most popular festivals in the country. However, the day before, a Saturday, there is another street dancing, albeit minor but nevertheless colorful: the Kasadyahan Regional Fiesta. The colorful Kasadyahan Festival Iloilo is a gathering of winners from the different festivals in Western Visayas thus expect to see dancers from the Masskara in Bacolod City,…Continue Reading “Dinagyang Festival: The colorful Kasadyahan Fiesta” →