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Dinagyang Festival is one of the Famous and World
renowned Festival in the Philippines. Iloilo people are
proud to celebrate the festivities every fourth Sunday
of January. The Dinagyang Festival is a very colorful
festival that the people are shouting the thundering
words of "Hala Bira" and makes the celebration so
lively. The highlights of the fiesta is the parade of
dancers dancing in the streets to dramatized in honor of
the Senyor Santo Niņo shouting "Viva Seņor Santo Niņo".
Dinagyang had its humble beginnings in the devotion to
the Seņor Santo Niņo that began to take root in the
hearts of Ilonggos some 40 years ago. Rev. Fr. Ambrosio
Galindez started to introduce the devotion to Santo Niņo
in November 1967, with the usual novenas and masses in
honor of the latter.
The first parish feast of the Seņor Santo Niņo was
celebrated in 1969, a year after the arrival. The main
feature of the feast was the first fluvial procession
where the image was borne on a decorated banca, starting
from the mouth of Iloilo river at Fort San Pedro, down
to Iloilo Provincial Capitol and back to San Jose
church.
The observance of the feast since the arrival of the
image was characterized with merry-making confined only
within the parochial level. The Confradia patterened the
features of the Ati-atihan similar to Ibajay, Aklan,
where natives dance on the streets, their bodies covered
with soot and ashes. It was not an imitation in its
entirety of rituals, but an imitation done in the spirit
of devotion to the Child Jesus. Dinagyang is the most
unusual of Ilonggo worship.
Dinagyang traces its roots to the staging of an
ati-atihan, a dance festival where performers paint
their bodies black to look like the dark Aetas, about
three decades back. Through the years, however, the
Dinagyang festival has not only meant fun and laughter
for the Ilonggos. It has also become a period of
thanksgiving and offering for all the blessings
received. |
