Another year has passed and as early as now, Dinagyang Festival goers are already preparing for the bigger festival next year in Iloilo.

Festival Dancer in Dinagyang 2011

Aside from delicious Pancit Molo and Lapaz Batchoy, tourist from all over the world are also visiting Iloilo to watch the colorful street dancers and to experience the rest of activities in Dinagyang Festival 2011.

If you already bought an airline ticket and you want to know the schedule of activities for the 2011 Iloilo Dinagyang Festival, heres the tentative sched :

Dinagyang 2011 Schedule courtesy of : http://www.dinagyangsailoilo.com/

Kadayawan Festival 2010 is an annual festival in the city of Davao in the beautiful island of Mindanao. Just like all harvest festivals, Kadayawan is a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest and serenity of living.

Kadayawan sa Davao Festival 2010

This internationally renowned festival is a weeklong celebration that has been transformed into a festival of festivals. Being celebrated every 3rd Week of August, Kadayawan’s festivities are highlighted with floral floats, street-dancing competitions and exhibits that showcases the City’s tourism products and services.

Here’s Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2010 Schedule of Activities :

Engr. Manuel A. Medros 2nd Solo Art Exhibit for Painting
August 11,- September 11, 2010
Venue: Museo Dabawenyo
Agri-Trade Fair
August 13-30, 2010
Venue: SM City
A trade fair participated by farers, plant growers, handicraft producers and manufacturers.

Panagtagbo
August 16-22, 6-8 PM
Venue: Peoples’ Park
The converging of the Ata Manobo, Ubo Manobo, K’lata, Tagabawa, Matigsalog, Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug, Sama and Kalagan tribes, celebrating thanksgiving of their oneness with the earth through performances, culinary fiesta and age-old craftsmanship integrated in a program that showcases their strength as diverse peoples of Davao.

Fair Trade Opening
August 16-22, 2010
Venue: Sanguniang Panlungsod Lobby
A bazaar of proudly Davao-made goods produced and manufactured by organizations that encourages entrepreneurship and empowerment participated by the women of Davao City.

Kadayawan 2010 Festival Opening
August 20, 2010
Venue: Rizal Park
The official launch of the 25th Kadayawan Festival highlighted by performances of the different tribes of Davao City.

Hudyakaan
August 20-22, 5:00 PM-2 AM
Venue: Bolton Street (Beside Sanguniang Panlungsod)
An evening street event that features music and food. A street festival, Davao-style.

Hiyas sa Kadayawan
August 20, 2010, 8 PM
Venue: Almendras Gym,
Search for the Kadayawan symbol, the indigenous lass who is knowledgeable of her indigenous culture and wisdom through a pageantry of Mindanaoan myths and legends.

Indak Indak sa Kadalanan
August 21. 2010, 8 AM
Venue: Major thoroughfares of the city
The Indak Indak sa Kadalanan or the street dancing parade showcases the different colors, cultures and traditional dances of the different tribes of Davao and Mindanao.

Pamulak Floral Float Parade Competition
August 22, 8 AM
Venue: Major thoroughfares of the city
The grand finale of the Kadayawan Festival, the Pamulak is a mobile display of the blooming of flowers and ripening of fruits in creatively decorated floats on parade, showcasing the abundance of vegetation in the Davao Region.

Source : Kadayawan 2010 Facebook

MassKara Festival is a colorful and one of the most celebrated week-long festival held yearly in Bacolod City. The festival features a street dance competition which is participated by Schools and Barangay’s.

2010 Maskara Festival

Other activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized ad-hoc every year.

MassKara is coined from two words: Mass, which means “many, or multitude,” and Kara, a Spanish word for “face,” thus MassKara is a mass or multitude of smiling faces.

Here’s the Masskara Festival 2010 Official Schedule of activities this year’s from the festival organizers:

October 1, 2010 Opening of the Festival Site ( * Public Plaza * SM MassKara Village)
October 9, 2010 Bacolod MassKara Queen (* University of St. La Salle Coliseum)
October 15 & 16, 2010 Electric MassKara (* Tourism Street, Lacson Street.)
October 16, 2010 MassKara Street Dance Competition 2010 – School Category (* Araneta St. to Public Plaza)
October 17, 2010 MassKara Street Dance Competition – Barangay Category (* Araneta St. to Public Plaza)
October 18, 2010 Countdown to the Charter Day Giant Street Party Celebration (* New Government Center)
October 19 73rd Bacolod Charter Day Anniversary

Read more about Maskara Festival >>

T’nalak 2010 Schedule of Activities

Source : One South Cotabato

It was early morning yesterday when we left the Samsung Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio together with fellow bloggers and writers form various publications for the Pahiyas Festival 20210 Photo Shoot-Out sponsored by Samsung.

Pahiyas 2010

Enroute to Lucban Quezon, we had a short stopover in Sulyap Gallery Cafe in San Pablo City. The Restaurant / Gallery is located in the former Cocoland Hotel offering famous tagalog cuisine and a gallery of paintings and antique collections. Inside the compound, you can also visit an old Spanish Colonial house which was restored piece by piece to match the original dismantled house from Tiaong Quezon.

Sulyap Gallery Cafe

While in Sulyap Restaurant, the Marketing Manager of Samsung’s Camera Division presented the new set of Cameras which includes the Samsung NX10, Samsung ST60 and others. They also introduced several stylish and ergonomically-designed compact digital camcorders like the Samsung SMX C200 and Samsung SMX F400.

Samsung Marketing giving Camera Orientation

Due to heavy traffic, the original itinerary was not followed and we headed straight to Lucban instead for the highlight of the tour. We arrived in Lucban at around 3pm and as expected we had an almost 1 kilometer walk towards Dealo Koffee Klatch since the tourist bus can no longer enter the crowded downtown.

Samsung NX10

The participants converged in Dealo Coffee Klatch for our local lunch and festival orientation. We all enjoyed the Pancit HabHab, Pork Pastel, Beef Caldereta and my favorite Hardinera – a local meat loaf much like embotido steamed in a llanera (an oval pan commonly used for leche flan). After the huge meal, we roamed around town to visit and checkout the colorful houses and to have some pasalubong shopping.

Pancit HabHab

For the first timers, seeing the huge influx of local and international tourists can really be overwhelming.The Good thing about this year Pahiyas is it’s on a Saturday so working travel whores shouldn’t have to worry about work the next day.

For the unfamilliar, residents of the selected streets around town decorates the fronts of their homes with produce from local farms, kiping (colorful rice wafers) and other assorted handicrafts. The festival is held every year on May 15th and its intent is to honor San Isidro Labrador who is the patron saint of farmers. This festival attracts local and foreign visitors who look forward to experiencing this annual fiesta.

Colorful Pahiyas in Lucban

Apart from being a competition, decorating the facade of their homes is simply a local tradition. Some of the farm produce they use are rice grains, chayote, string beans, carrots, radish, eggplants and various fruits. To provide a contrast to the native green vegetables on display, they also hang Lucban Longganisa and suman (rice cake wrapped in banana leaf) on the facade of their homes. Local handicrafts like hats and baskets made from buntal are also used to decorate the homes.

Hardinera

The main component of the decorations has to be the kiping – a rice based wafer which is molded into a leaf and dyed with a multitude of colors, typically fuchsia, emerald, orange, yellow, blue and red. In each house, Kiping is strung together to form chandeliers and flowers to add colors in their house decoration.

Kids in Pahiyas

The Festival can be traced all the way back to the year 1500. The local farmers who lives in the shadow of Mt. Banahaw like Tayabas and Sariaya are also holding a similar festival to give thanks for a yearly fruitful harvest. This soon evolved into the Pahiyas Festival of today as the people began to decorate their houses with their harvest.

Grand Price Winner 2010 Pahiyas Festival

It was a great initiative for the marketing team of Samsung (Camera Division) to bring tech, photo and travel bloggers to Pahiyas Festival since this Festival has been a favorite destination of photographers in this time of the year.

Parada ng Kalabaw

Unfortunately I was not able to tryout their new Samsung NX10 but I got the chance to try their PL100 digital camera. What I liked with the PL100 camera is its 1.5” LCD located on the front of the camera which is perfect for cam whores. It allows you to pose and take your own portrait photo with your desired position and background.

Cam Whoring using Samsung PL100

The traffic, long hours of travel and the super cold Bus can be unforgiving but overall, our Pahiyas Festival Experience is truly an amazing experience. Many thanks to Samsung Philippines Marketing Team for the wonderful Pahiyas Festival experience.

May is a festive month in the Philippines wherein bountiful harvest of fruits, unique crops and flowers is being celebrated in most agricultural towns in the country.

Flores de Mayo

When the rains come after a long dry spell, flowers seem to bloom overnight and to celebrate the much needed rains, the Filipinos celebrate by giving praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary by holding a yearly Santacruzan.

First they gather the flowers and use them to decorate the church’s aisles and altars. The flowers are then bundled into giant blooms and used in many different springtime festivals collectively known as “Flores De Mayo” or Flowers of May.

Santacruzan

Many predominately Catholic towns in the Philippines celebrate Flores de Mayo with gatherings in the afternoons to pray the rosary, offer the flowers to the Virgin Mary and to enjoy locally homemade snacks. In many parishes these afternoon sessions evolve into a procession to the church where an evening mass is celebrated.

Flowers of May

This process is referred to as “Santacruzan” or the Festival of the Holy Cross. This is to commemorate the finding of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem by Santa Helena. Young woman in the towns are selected to represent the various characters of the commemoration. Each wears a unique and colorful gown meant to resemble the Queen that she portrays. The focal point of the procession is the Reina Elena or Queen Helena. She walks with Prince Constantino under a giant canopy made up of the May flowers.

Festival of the Holy Cross

Right behind them is a float the carries an image of the Virgin Mary. Behind that is a band that provides a festive air to the procession. As this procession slowly moves through the streets of the town, the residents holding lighted candles fall in and join as the rosary is read and songs of praise are sung. Sometimes the evening culminates with the mayor of the town hosting a dinner party to complete the celebration.

It was exactly 10am when I arrived in the Pacific Drive of SM Mall of Asia. The parking lot assembly point was still empty and the only thing I saw were the trucks loaded with costumes and props of several Aliwan Fiesta 2010 contingents.

The temperature was humid so I decided just to roam around inside the Mall while waiting for the Aliwan contigents to assemble. I saw several travel bloggers like Byahilo, Habagat Central and Explore Ilo-Ilo in the parking area taking photos of Aliwan Fiesta 2010 participating floats and street dancers.

The return of Jejemons : este Lapay Bantique Festival of Masbate pala

After taking few portrait shots and photos of the floats, I went back to the Mall to rehydrate and have quick lunch. I came back just in time for street dancing competition. I don’t have a Media pass that’s why I have to bear with the huge photographers crowd. I was totally disappointed with some of the organizers (I supposed) who stands in front of us as if there’s no photographers at their back.

Padang Padang Festival from Maguindanao

I decided to leave early after the performance of Halamang Dilaw Festival from Marilao Bulacan since I still have to meet a friend in Makati. Among the street dancing performances that I witnessed, I think the Kasag Festival is really impressive. With several unique and interesting coreography, colorful costumes and great props – I already forecasted that Kasag Festival will be included in the top three:)

I’m quite disappointed with Panagbenga Festival of Baguio City. Being one of the most crowded and most popular festival in the country, I think Panagbenga Festival organizers should improve their performance next year.

2010 Aliwan Float Winners

3rd Place : Shariff Aguak Maguindanao

2nd Place : Bahandi han Dagat of Pasaka Festival / Tanauan Leyte

Grand Champion : Best Aliwan Float 2010 goest to Cotabato City

2010 Aliwan Street Dancing Competition Winners

3rd runner up : Kasag Festival of Banate Iloilo

2nd runner up : Zamboanga Hermosa Festival of Zamboanga City

Aliwan Grand Champion : Dinagyang Festival

Did everyone enjoy it? Lets just pray!!!

See you in Aliwan 2011….

I just got back from SM Mall of Asia to watch Aliwan Fiesta 2010 and to take photos of the Philippines best of the best festival dancers.

The parking lot was still deserted when I arrived at the back of SMX but in just a matter of two hours, the area was completely covered by street dancers and photographers.

from Tribu Paghidaet of Dinagyang Festival

It was not only a gathering of street dancers, the area became a rendezvous of Pinoy young artists showcasing their indigenous costumes, unique culture and wide smile despite of the humid temperature.

Halamang Dilaw Festival in Aliwan

The humid temperature was a blessing in disguise because in the past couple of years, rains have completely affected some of the streetdancers performance not to mention the inconvenience experienced by the spectators specially the photographers who’s eagerly trying their best to capture colorful memories while protecting their gadgets form the destructive downpour.

Padang Padang Festival of Parang Maguindanao

Some of the country’s best festivals was not present this year like the Tuna Festival of Gensan and the Kadayawan Festival of Davao but this years list of contingents were equally talented and promising.

Pakalog Festival of Pasig City

Ilonggo’s continue to dominate Aliwan with three contingents which includes Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City, Kasag Festival of Banate Iloilo and Paraw Regatta also from Iloilo City.

Lapay Bantique of Masbate

Halamang Dilaw Festival of Bulacan lacks on powerful beat of the drums unlike most of the Sto. Nino Festival of the Visayas but its elegance and colorful costumes made their presentation really really worth watching.

I decided not to finish the street dancing competition since I have a prior commitment but I really enjoyed covering the event.

till next Aliwan Fiesta 2011:)

Click here – > for more Photos of 2010 Aliwan Fiesta

Once a year, the province of Palawan, the Philippines’ last ecological frontier, celebrates its biggest festival, Baragatan sa Palawan, from June 1 to 30, 2010. Baragatan which is derived from the Cuyonon word, bagat, which means “to meet,” is a gathering of people, culture, traditions and resources celebrating the beauty and bounty of the province. It is a grand celebration where one can experience Palawan under one roof, so to speak.

Baragatan Festival in Palawan – Float of the municipality of Taytay, second prize winner in the Baragatan Float Parade competition in 2009.

It is a festival of Palawan’s natural and cultural heritage showcasing the beauty and bounty of the province in its people, agricultural crops, arts and crafts, tourism destinations, and environment. People from all walks of life including expatriates who have made Palawan their home, tourists and visitors are part of the Baragatan sa Palawan.

According to the Baragatan Executive Committee headed by Ferdinand S. Dilig as Chairman, the festivities will begin on June 1 with a soft opening of month-long fairs such as the Garden Show, featuring Palawan’s greenery, blooms and other exotic plants, collectors’ items; Caraenan sa Baragatan is a food fair offering delicious and delectable meals, and for those searching for native souvenir items there’s the Technology Livelihood and Development Center Trade Fair featuring food products, arts and crafts of local manufacturers.

The grand opening of the festival is on June 21 featuring the colorful Float Parade, Pantiguan sa Baragatan, a dance parade participated in by local officials of different municipalities, showcasing the festival in their respective localities and the officials. Also expected to add color to the grand opening is the streetdancing presentation participated in by officials and employees of the Provincial Government of Palawan.

Cuyonon, the predominant culture in Palawan, will be highlighted on June 22 and 23 with the Cuyonon Day and Cuyono Rock respectively. The Cuyonon Day will feature Cuyono music, songs, poetry, dances and delicacies while Cuyonon Rock will showcase modern versions of Cuyono songs and Cuyonon translations of Pinoy Rock. As Gov. Joel T. Reyes once said, “We have to continue promoting and preserving Cuyono culture because this is our identity and our heritage and our way of manifesting our patriotism and love for Palawan.”

The festival also coincides with the 108th founding anniversary of the establishment of the civil government of Palawan on June 23. The anniversary will be highlighted with a Eucharistic celebration, the Governor’s Award, an award-giving body recognizing outstanding groups, institutions and individuals who have contributed significantly to the development and progress of the province, and The Best of the Best of Palawan Talents.

Baragatan sa Palawan will culminate with the much-awaited Saraotan sa Dalan or streetdancing competition, tribute to former Provincial Government of Palawan officials and employees on June 27 and the Search for Mutya ng Palawan with the talent night on June 28 and the coronation night on June 30.

These are all exciting and colorful events that Palaweños want to share to the country and the rest of the world. So come and visit Palawan and be part of the Baragatan sa Palawan festival.

The much awaited yearly nationwide streetdancing competition will be back very very soon!! The Aliwan Fiesta 2010 will showcase the country’s best of the best festival streetdancers from all over the Philippines.

Aliwan 2010 Festival

Organized by Manila Broadcasting Company, Aliwan Fiesta is scheduled on April 22-24, 2010. What makes this years event interesting is its new route which will commence at the back of the SM Mall of Asia but the final dance showdown will still be held in front of the Aliw theater in CCP.

Photographers who wishes to join the Aliwan Photo Contest can submit up to five entries which includes 3 shots taken during the street dancing competition and 2 additional photos of Aliwan festival 2010 floats.

If you are living outside Metro Manila, be sure to plan your trip ahead, book your flights early and accommodation as early as now and see you in Aliwan Fiesta 2010.