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Published: March 3rd 2007
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Merrymaking, street dancing, devotion to the Señor Santo Niño, culture and faith... that is what the word Dinagyang embodies. The Dinagyang Festival, Iloilo's version of Aklan's Ati-Atihan Festival, is one of the grandest and biggest festivals in the country. Held on the fourth week of January, this festival draws tourists, Filipinos and foreigners alike, to Panay Island's busiest city, Iloilo.
Highlighting the festival is the Ati Dance competition wherein several
Tribu or tribes participate. Initially, when my Ilongga friend Jeany, was explaining the festival and referred to the participants of the Ati Dance as tribes, I thought that they were literally from indigenous "tribes". Tribes do still exist in my country so I was under the impression that what my friend was saying was the real deal. Much to my surprise the
tribus are high school students from the province's different National High Schools. Yeah, stupid, I know.
Anyhow, the preparations for the festival take months! The choreography and the music for the street dance takes a whole year and then 3 months before the competition, these high school kids would start practicing night and day. The students are usually from a certain town, and you won't even believe
the town spirit and how much they root and support for their tribes! According to my friend as the competition nears, towns will close roads and plazas so that their tribe would be able to practice. The night before the main parade, we passed by the plaza in Molo and there they were, dancing at the heavy beat of the drums with the townspeople watching on. It was so overwhelming that we couldn't wait to see the actual Dinagyang Festival.
The culmination of the
fiesta is usually on a Sunday, where the whole of Iloilo city is on an uproar. Tribes from different schools, towns and provinces are gathered, covered with soot and ash, dressed in magnificent costumes ready to dance on the streets all day long. The roads of Iloilo city proper are closed to make way for the parades and jeepneys can only take you to the city proper outskirts. There are six judging stations around the city so the chances of seeing the performance are huge.
Or maybe not...
Aside from the huge crowd, the seats at every judging station were all sold out! The only way to watch the whole program or all
Warriors
parading after finishing a performance in front of one of the 6 judging areas... the tribes is if you stay glued on to your television... which we actually did for about 2 hours. Watching them on the boob tube gave me goosebumps... the shouts, the drums, the dancers, the warriors! But of course, it would be a lot better if we get to watch the real thing! Participating in the festival was after all one of the reasons why we came.
Although we didn't get seats at the grandstand (a whopping Php700 or more), we were able to join the parade and see several tribes after their performance. Having mastered the Ilonggo accent and fusing that with my
Tagalog, it was easy for me to communicate with the locals and weasel my way through the front of the crowd. Ilonggos are gracious people! I guess they got the fact that I'm a tourist, excited to see the show that they let me go up front so I can see the actual show. I had fun... for a good ten minutes! It was almost lunchtime and it was scorching hot! I could feel my feet being scalded by the heat. My other friend, Aisa even got sunburned!
So instead of getting burned, we
Drummers
aside from the warriors, part of the tribe are the drummers who create such astounding and commanding music opted to just stay behind the crowd and wait for the tribes to pass by. This was the greatest decision ever! Not only did I avoid getting an uneven tan, we were able to snap cool photos of the tribes! After the Street Dance competitions, the festival continues on to the wee evening! The Freedom Grandstand is filled up with people, just enjoying the night, waiting in excitement for the winners!
Out of twenty tribes, only 3 will be given top awards and huge prizes (hundreds of pesos, I assume). A tribe consists of over a hundred people. If I do my math correctly that would be more or less 2000 participants and yet only few will be recognized for their extremely huge efforts. Yes, there are losers but I believe the reason they joined was not just so that they can win in the annual festival, it was more of their devotion to the religion and their province.
I can only imagine the resilience of the Ilonggo tribes! They have been awake since early morning, dancing with the same vigor in 6 different venues, walked under the heat of the sun (technically in the undies only), managed
Tribu Hamili
holding their banner up high - one of the 20 tribes competing at the festival to cater the wants of a tourist, smile for a photo, and party on through the night as the winners are announced! The festival was a blast!
And I'm coming back next year for another dose of the Dinagyang Festival!
PS: 'D lowdown on the Iloilo's most famous fiesta:
1. Every evening of the weeklong festival are food fests, concerts and parties! Most establishments in the city are joining in with the celebrations!
2. At SM City Iloilo, you can buy cheap Dinagyang souvenirs ranging from bags to tshirts and even the masks.
3. The Kasadyahan competition is held the day before the Dinagyang competition. A lot of companies pay huge amounts of moohlah so they can join in the parade.
4. The Dinagyang competition starts at around 8am and would last until after lunch.
5. Best place to watch the tribes compete is at the Freedom Grandstand. They say that tickets are booked in advance.
6. If you plan to join the rest of the tribes in the streets as they parade, wear SUNBLOCK!
7. The winning tribe of the festival will move on to the Aliwan Festival in
Waiting for a Buyer
vendors flocked the city with street food and masks and trinkets Manila. Aliwan Fetsival is held every last week of April in the Aliwan Theater, CCP. All the winning performers of the different festivals around the country will compete in a kind of "showdown of festivals".
8. Most Ilonggos knows the
Tagalog dialect, you just need to have that Ilonggo accent for them to get what you are saying. When you get the accent, you'll see that it's difficult to get rid of it.
8. For more Iloilo infos:
Hala Bira Iloilo: Tripping with Food and Churches
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harven
non-member comment
w0w.......
grabe!kaka bilib ang galing talaga !jeje