FESTIVALS
& FIESTAS
Festivals take place all year round in the Philippines. Diversions range from re-enactments of Christ's crucifixion, to greased pig catching games.
January:
Kalibo's Ati-Atihan festival, held in the third week of January, is the Philippines' most  famous fiesta. Ati-Atihan means "making like Ati" and refers to the dark Negrito aborigines, the original inhabitants of Panay. Today, as column upon column of sooted Ati-garbed locals beat on drums and cymbals and march in syncopated rhythm, wild dancing breaks out everywhere.
February:
Aniversary of the EDSA People Power revolution
in Manila, with moving masses, stage shows, dancing,
singing and firework displays. Occupying centre-stage of the celebration is the portion of the EDSA between Camp Crame and Aguinaldo and the EDSA shrine on Ortigas Avenue.
March-April:
During the Lenten season, Holy Week turns
into a colourful frenzy of festivity throughout the Philippines. Most notably, the heart-shaped island of Marinduque becomes
a stage for a unique spectacle: the Moriones Festival, which
re-enacts the Biblical story of Longinus and his miracle.
May:
The 1st May is an important day throughout the Philippines as it heralds a merry month of fiestas, flowers, fresh-faced girls in pretty costumes, and the twin processions of the Flores de Mayo and the Santacruzan. Every town or barrio throughout the archipelago stages its own Santacruzan.
June:
Feast of St. John, Balayan. At the centre-piece of any Filipino feast table is the roast lechon, or suckling pig. So revered is this dish that the folks of Balayan in Batangas have highlighted the feast of their patron saint, St John, with a tribute to golden-red lechon.
On the eve of the fiesta, an anniversary ball is held at the town plaza, where the lechon queen is crowned. Next morning, after mass at the Immaculate Conception Church, at least 50 lechon skewered on long bamboo poles are gathered in anticipation of the festivities.
July:
The festival of Santa Ana Kahimonan Abayan, held on 27 July in the northern Mindanao city of Butuan, is sourced to earlier times when human-eating crocodiles infested the Agusan River. Faced with this common enemy, the townspeople implored their patron saint to give them bountiful harvests and safe passage across the river. Santa Anna heard their prayers and destroyed the creatures.
Today, the river-people honour their patron saint by staging a water-borne high mass, celebrated by a column of priests. Hundreds of gaily-decorated boats are linked sideways to form a long platform spanning the river. The statue of Santa Ana is borne high on the shoulders of devotees and positioned in the middle of the floating platform. The ensuing mass is celebrated by several priests, sacristans and a choir.
August:
Four-metre high papier-mache giants, or gigantes, strut through the Quezon town of Lucban, representing Juan Cruz, a farmer, his wife, and their two children. In August, a full-blown fiesta is dedicated to these symbolic, fun-loving gigantes.
The men on stilts inside these figures skilfully march, dance, curtsy and bow before the crowds of spectators, and even peer through the first-floor windows they pass along the way. Heightening the fun is the toro, an enormous papier-mache bull, painted bright red and rigged with firecrackers. Throughout the parade, the bull scampers around the town plaza, scattering spectators as fireworks explode from inside.
October:
Masskara Charter Day anniversary, 19 October, Negros Occidental province. This full-on festival was first conceived in 1980 to add colour and pizzazz to the city' Charter Day celebrations. The non-stop round of festivities include mask-making contests, greased-pig catching games, pole climbing, sack races, disco king and queen contests, coconut-milk drinking, and banana and bread-eating competitions. Attracts crowds from islands all over this central province.
November/December: Intramuros Festival, Manila. Centred around the city's old walled neighbourhood, this is a festival of regal revelry, reliving old Manila's colonial golden age. There are exhibitions of historical artifacts, parades of Manila women clad in the traditional Maria Clara costume of the Spanish era
The Intramuros Festival goes on until December, when it culminates with the procession of the Feast of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, who is also the patron saint of Intramuros.
Christmas Lantern Festival, San Fernando. Three days before Christmas, in this town in the northern province of Pampanga, lanterns are lit at sunset in the main plaza to begin a parade of dancing and carol singing through the streets, accompanied by a lively brass band. The lantern exhibits are specimens of pyrotechnic splendour, representing the efforts of every barrio. The finest lanterns vie for the coveted Star of Bethlehem title, not to mention the cash prizes. Visitors are well-fed with traditional Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) specialities of chicken relleno, roast pig, bibingka and other dishes.
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