Iloilo Dinagyang Festival 2009
Iloilo | Dinagyang | Ati atihan
The city of Iloilo will be in a state of celebration again when the drums start beating and the tribes start running around the city. Every January, the citizens of Iloilo celebrate the feast of Sto. Nino through the event called Dinagyang.
The Dinagyang is a yearly event where the city of Iloilo is flooded with tourist to witness the different tribes witness their talents and syncronization through dancing with the beat of the drums. It’s the time where people forget their worries and problems, and just go with the flow, chanting “Hala Bira! Viva Sto. Nino“.
I remember when I was still living in Iloilo. As early as November, I could already hear drumbeats at night (No! I wasn’t imagining things) because they were already practicing their moves. I would really admire their determination to win because aside from the pocket money they would get, they would bring glory to their school or baranggay or to whatever group they came from.
The event would be happening next weekend, January 23-25. So if you are planning to visit the Philippines for a short while, I suggest you visit it in January for the dinagyang festival. It’s really worth it. Go dance with the beats and mingle with the people painted in black with their tribal custumes.
For the schedule of activities, please visit Byahilo blog. hmm I wonder who will be the winner for Dinagyang 2009?
You may be also interested in the similar celebrations of other places in the Philippines.
- Cebu has the Sinulog
- Aklan has the Ati-Atihan
- Negros has the Kasadyahan.
Ah yah, as a last note, here is a youtube vedeo of the Dinagyang Champion last year 2008. Tribu Paghidaet.
ohhh im a bit surprised here. ilonggo ka man gali? ahhheeh
uwi ka this dinagyang?
erics last blog post..Aliwan Fiesta 2009 Schedule is here!
@eric, yeh! Ilonggo ako. haha ikaw? hehe dko magpuli sa dinagyang e. sa tv nlg ko malantaw siguro hehe
Iloilo sounds like a great place to enjoy a getaway. I’d love to go some place real for a change, instead of just looking at them on the screen.
@Ling, Hmm where are you based Ling? What country?
For sure when you travel, better to visit some events, like the festivals,
or I dream about Brazil carnival
hmmmm… i just fall short of my expectation. tribu bola-bola presented something new this year. new in a sense that they showed a more vivid presentation of what really ati and dinagyang are, as a whole. i say more vivid since they have this what we call halo (lizard) and baboy talunon (wild boar) which depict the real ati when they hunt. they have also the magnified dagoy and raha (humabon? im not so sure, almost forgot my local history hehe). i like the way they surprise the spectators through their props(which they made themselves and their visual arts majors in the school for the arts).
maybe the reasons why they wasn’t able to capsize tribu paghidaet are:
and the cartoons are still there ) but then they were not sufficient enough to level that of paghidaet’s. in fairness i admire that drummer of tribu paghidaet who manipulated the instruments which produce different notes like congas, cowbells, and others. he is really skilled. and so as with the drummers and warriors. great number of dancers=great impact.
1: lesser number of instruments and warriors compared to tribu paghidaet. though they have new musical instruments like those congas and cowbells (knew these coz they stored these instruments in my lab
2: costume. i dont know why paghidaet has this eye-catching headress and costume ever. i even approached one paghidaet warrior to buy his headress for 500php and even 1k (just to give to someone as a unique souvenir and agreed to refund me hehe )but he refused, and i understand that they will still have a lots of presentations coming up including aliwan fiesta.
but for me, bola-bola is still the best in terms of concept. Ricmar proved his claim: daugon namon ni sa concept sir! (he is bola-bola’s tribe leader)
here is the story and complete result from mardi gras to fireworks competition to ati-ati