The Dinagyang festival has always been celebrated every fourth weekend of January as it basically honors the Christianity as well as respecting Christ. During this day, all the residents of Iloilo city would be celebrating. The event is always colorful which is coupled with dramatization in order to honor Patron Sto. Niño. This festival has always been happening every year and the whole town normally rejoices as they shout their pride of being Ilonggo and tell about their beautiful culture. This has boosted tourism in the region and has made the town to be known as best destination in Philippines. In fact, the event explains the arrival of 10 Bornean Datus as well as the exchange of native Aetas of their land in order to acquire the native hat which is commonly referred as Golden Salakot.
Video Credit to: Lagaw Kita
Dinagyang basically comes from the native Ilonggo word “Dagyang” which means happy. The event is normally marked as both a religious and cultural activity and the event is always merrily celebrated with black or brown paintings on the bodies of dancers that signifies the black Negritos of Panay. As they showcase beauty of their culture, the warriors are dressed up sometimes with both fashionable or fancy costumes and they would dance artistically with complicated formations to the tune of loud drum rhythms.
If you want to have a cozy stay during the festival, there are beautiful hotels with affordable accommodations in place. It is always advisable for one to book earlier as weeks before the festival turns the hotels fully booked. The hotels have always offered more than the expectations and thus making the city to be among the best destination in Philippines. But in some occasions, all hotels within Iloilo City are fully booked, thus one has to look outside of it which would somehow entail you more time and money to go to and from the venue. Despite of that, people who experienced the lively dances, loud chants and reverberating music would never think the distance they travel from their hotel to the venue.
One may also decide to enjoy his night in Smallville or the diversion road as it is highly convenient for the night life. Within the Smallville complex, there are also hotels nearby which one may consider too.
As years go by, there are increased participation from the tribes of barangays, the institutions from the surrounding towns and provinces and the competition became more intense in terms of costumes, choreography and even sounds.
Likewise, there are several awards which are being competed for including the overall best in performance, best in music as well as in choreography. Additionally, there is category for the major awards in the championship which includes the first, second, third and fourth runners up. One can observe how resourceful and artistic the minds of Ilonggos in coming up with their costumes. Others have learned new ways to design costumes artistically by simply putting together coconut palm and anahaw leaves. In as much as the dressing and the drum beats have cultural significance, the dramatization of how Christianity first came to Panay is also significant.
So if you and your family happen to have a vacation in the nearby Province during the fourth Sunday of January I would suggest you consider dropping by Iloilo City and experience the drum beats and dances that are one of a kind!
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