2. FESTIVALS
All year round there are festival that
people in different places in the
Philippine celebrate. Every region in the
Philippines has different kinds of
festivities that every Filipino enjoys and
celebrates. People celebrate the occasions
with enthusiasm, excitement, and high
spirit.
3. Philippine festivals express
different reasons to celebrate. It may
be due to the following:
1. To welcome a good harvest
2. To express religious fervour
3. To commemorate a historic event
4. Lucban, Quezon
The Pahiyas festival is celebrated by the
people of Lucban, Quezon in honor of their
saint- San Isidro Labrador every May 15. This
is to give thanks for a good harvest and to
guarantee more bountiful harvest in the
coming seasons. You will see brightly colored
rice wafer or kiping elaborately decorating the
front almost every house in town during the
occasion.
5.
6. Lucbanons keep this tradition alive
and people from different places
come to witness the celebration. The
beautiful and bright colors of kiping
transcend the beauty of this place.
Lucbanons’ friendly smiles and
greetings added to the festive
atmosphere on the street.
7.
8.
9. MARINDUQUE
The Moriones Festival is
among the many attractions of
the multi-faceted island of
Marinduque. This religious
festival began in 1807 held
every Lenten season. The word
moriones is derived from the
word morion a Spanish word
for helmet or mask worn by
the conquistadores. Mask is a
part of the Roman centurion’s
helmet.
10. The moriones stand for the Roman
centurions who participated in the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The moriones
participants of the Holy Week enact
scenes from the passion and death of
Jesus Christ. They play the role of
Longinus, the Roman centurion with a
blind right eye, who pierced the side of
Jesus with a sword on the cross.
11. The blood that spurted out hit
Longinus’s blind eye and instantly
healed his eye. He then declared
his newfound faith to the people
in town. Pilate ordered his soldier
to capture and kill Longinus. He
was beheaded on Easter Sunday.
12. Every year, several
townspeople of Marinduque put
on their moriones or masks and
join the passion drama. They go
around the street in disguise
and it is said that not even their
relatives can recognize them.
13. KALIBO, AKLAN
Ati-atihan in Aklan is a famous
festival. This festival is a famous Mardi-
Gras-like festivity of Kalibo, Aklan. It is a
religious celebration in honor of Santo
Niño. Participants paint their faces with
black soot. They wear bright, outlandish,
and intricate costumes as they dance and
festivities.
14.
15.
16. ILOILO
Dinagyang for the Ilonggos is a
period of thanksgiving and offering for
all the blessings received. It is
celebrated every fourth week of
January in Iloilo City. This celebration
started 1968 as a religious celebration
to mark the feast of Señor Santo Niño.
17. This festival is characterized by frantic
stomping of feet and hypnotic drumbeating
with colorful whirl of thousands of people
wearing unique costumes. They dance and
chant and they move around the street.
Dinagyang is a dance that tells a story
about devotion to Santo Niño or the Child
Jesus. Participants wear colorful costumes
and accessories.
18.
19. SANTACRUZAN
In many places in Luzon
like Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Metro
Manila, and many more,
Santacruzan is a common sight
in May. It is reenactment of the
search for the true cross of
Jesus by Queen Helena
accompanied by her son
Emperor Constantine. You will
see beautiful costumes and
props used by each participant
to portray the character he/she
is representing.
21. Baguio
The Panagbenga Festival in Baguio is
celebrated every fourth week of February. This
unique culture of the people showcases huge
floats covered with beautiful flowers. Beautiful
floral floats display different kinds of flowers
that are really so amusing. During the parade,
colorful procession of people in different
costumes are behind each float.
22.
23. BACOLOD
The Maskarra Festival in Bacolod is
one of the most famous festivals in the
country. It is celebrated every third week
of October. This festival is a Mardi Gras-
like celebration that features colorful
masks and costumes of street dancers
dancing to Latin rhythm.
24.
25. MALAYBALAY, BUKIDNON
Kaamulan Festival is celebrated by the people in
Bukidnon every first week of March. During this
festivity, you will see colorful banners and banderitas
around. Sweet haunting sound of native music fills the
air.
The pamuhat ritual starts in the early morning of
festivities. People enjoy the feast of ethnic foods and
trade fairs. Native dancing is worth watching with
dancers in their native bright, colorful, and intricate
costumes and headdress.
26.
27. TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE
Pintados Kasadyaan
Festival celebration
happens every month of
June. During pre-Hispanic
years, tattoo was a sign of
bravery among the natives
of Tacloban. Up to the
present time, the people of
Tacloban have this cultural
revival.
28. During the festivities, residents
decorate their bodies with body
paints, imitating the warriors of old
times. They dance to frantic the beat
of drums. It is so amazing to see
colorful body paints of people
accentuated with other body
accessories.
29. DAVAO
Kadayawan Festival is an internationally
renowned celebration. It is a weeklong
celebration and thanksgiving for a bountiful
harvest every third week of August. During the
festivities, you will enjoy fruits and flowers show,
trade fair, tribal parade, and many more. You will
also enjoy eating exotic fruits as the celebration
coincides with the harvest time. It is also the
blooming time of waling-waling.
32. Komedya or Moro-moro
During the Spanish regime, komedya was
performed in the regional dialects for the illiterate
while others was written in the Roman alphabet in
the principal languages. Komedya circulated widely
during that time.
This play in verse has two types- the secular
and the religious komedya. The secular komedya
deals with epic stories of love and vengeance while
the religious komedya deals with lives of patron
saints.
33.
34.
35. Zarzuela
It is a musical drama were songs,
dances, and prose dialogues are
combined. This theater presentation is
about domestic family life. It was in
1870 when the first zarzuela was
performed in the Philippines.
36. When Alejandro Cubero arrived in
the Philippines in 1879, he introduced
the art of zarzuela among the
Filipinos. He trained the Filipinos in
this art. During that time, Jose Rizal
wrote a one-act zarzuela known as
Junto al Pasig which was set to music.
37. Today’s theater is very different from what
the Spaniards had introduced to the Philippines
many years ago. Contemporary theater is the
product of many changes. As civilization
progressed, special places were built for theatrical
performances. As customs, beliefs and
technologies changed, so did the theater. All the
playwrights, directors and actors, and technicians
who had participated in theater for many years
ago have contributed to the development of the
theater art we have today.
38.
39. Holy Week
Holy Week is also called Semana Santa, the Spanish
translation of the religious festival itself. It is also called
Lenten season when Catholic remembers the suffering
and death of Jesus Christ.
During Palm Sunday, you will see beautifully made
palaspas. These are made from coconut or palm leaves.
Catholics bring palaspas to church to be blessed by the
priest. In most places especially in the provinces, you will
see and hear the pabasa. This is chanting of verses about
the sufferings of Christ. It may start on Holy Monday.
40. One of the highlights of Semana Santa
celebration is the re-enactment of the torture
and death of Jesus Christ. The Catholic church
does not honor these kinds of activities.
Cenaculo, the most enduring religious
drama about the passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, is presented in
many places in the Philippines from Palm
Sunday to Easter Sunday.
41. Another important feature of Holy Week
is the Easter Sunday celebration. On Easter
Sunday, as the Catholics celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the traditional
salubong is also held at four o’clock in the
morning. This commemorates how Virgin
Mary met Jesus who has come back to life.
Easter Sunday is also called Pasko ng
Pagkabuhay.
