This annual festival was first celebrated in 1969, when a replica of the Sto. Nino was brought over from Cebu. Today, it is celebrated every fourth Sunday of January. This occasion also commemorates the conversion of the island's early settlers, the dark-skinned atis, to Christianity. This festival is quite similar to that of Kalibo's Ati-atihan, but this is even more exciting.
Last January 25, the city was packed with people as usual. The streets were all decorated with Dinagyang banners, billboards, posters, and a huge bottle of beer. All warriors were painted back. Their beautiful costumes were made from indigenous materials such as cogon, coconut, bamboo, beads, and feathers. As I have noticed from their expressions, they looked excited and eager to win the competition.
I do not know about other people, but for me Dinagyang these days has become too commercialized and bring. Every year, you could see the same moves, formation and rhythm. I did not say that all participating tribes were all lousy, but almost all of them were just repeating their performances in the past years with a little modification. There were a lot of tribes who participated and from the time all of them had finished performing, my ears become numb because of the loud beating of the drums. I guess, the only tribe that caught my attention was the Bola-Bola tribe. They really deserved to be the over-all champion of this year's Dinagyang. I do not want to sound killjoy, but this is what I have observed and felt after watching the event. Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion, isn't it?
There were things that also interested me during Dinagyang festival. I liked the exhibit of paintings and other great things that reminded us of our rich culture. It also encouraged a lot of Ilonggo artists to share their talent and be appreciated. The souvenirs sold during Dinagyang also helped artists express themselves even on little things like the making of ati-ati souvenirs and other colourful stuffs like hats, whistles, headbands, necklaces, and many other different beadworks. During the evening, the party people scattered and enjoyed the smells and tastes of delicious array of food and listened all night long to the sounds of live bands all over the city.
Dinagyang was more than just a display of partying and merrymaking, but it represented the unique character of the Ilonggo people -- artistic, fun loving, religious and sometimes crazy and wild.
