Dinagyang Festival

Iloilo City

Dinagyang Festival

The Dinagyang Festival is considered as one of the grandest and world-renowned festivals in the Philippines, which commemorates the devotion to the Holy Child Jesus or Sr. Sto. Nino, as well as the arrival of the Malay settlers and the barter trade with the native Ati tribe in Panay Island. Celebrated every January, the festival features an Ati Tribe Competition held on the fourth Sunday of the month. The preparations for the festival start in mid-October of the previous year, with tribes practicing for their performances. Participants showcase an impressive display of choreography, colorful tribal costumes, and striking props that depict the socio-cultural and religious aspects of life in Panay Island before the Spanish colonization and the introduction of Catholicism in the country.