What's cooking up for Dinagyang 2008?
At the start of 2008, Iloilo City has a smorgasbord of tasty welcome attractions for visitors to delight in.
This January and February, Iloilo offers five buffet suites for visitors to savor the innate warmth and hospitality of the Ilonggos; five big occasions, all in a row, a week apart from each other, starting with the Annual District Fiesta of Arevalo on 20 January – a celebration in honor of its patron saint – Senor Santo Nino, whose image at the parish church is believed to be the third oldest in the country. People flock to the place for a view of the fireworks display on the night of the fiesta.
A week later comes Iloilo's premier festival – the Dinagyang, the Best Tourism Event in the Philippines! February 2nd is another patron saint day, the Feast of Our Lady of Candles celebrated by the Jaro District, known for its grand cockfight derbies. Chinese New Year happens on the 8th of February, a cross-cultural event started a few years ago that has become the biggest Chinese new year celebration outside of Manila's Chinatown. February 16-17 is Paraw Regatta, the oldest sailboat race in Asia, which is now on its 36th year.
Of the five smorgasbords, its Dinagyang that is most palatable and popular among visitors coming from all over – mostly balikbayans and a significant number of foreigners wanting to have a toothsome of local fare. It is Dinagyang that is drawing a lot of tourists because of its impressive visuals and rich choreography set in four different tables. There are four performance areas scattered in a 4-kilometer parade route along the main city streets where the contesting participants show their wares and compete for recognition as grand tribe champion.
The Dinagyang menu usually starts with an appetizer, the opening salvo, which is actually a dry-run for the main event of the Ati competition. The participating tribes in their casual uniforms and sponsors' t-shirts take the parade route to rouse the populace that the festival season is here. The tribes familiarize and rehearse blocking in the performance areas. It is at this time that sponsoring companies of tribes are revealed. The sponsors speak of who's who among the tribes by the logos printed in their tees. Tribes with better-oiled machineries have big corporate names and have the bigger chance of emerging champion of the competition.
The main courses come one day at a time, starting with a Friday drum and bugle competition, a revival of an event which used to be a mere side dish. The Drum and Bugle parade is reintroduced this year, a hot broth with a dash of zest, a pinch of spice, and a handful of great expectations. It ushers in the highlights of the festival; offering an array of musical talent and skills of school children from the different places around Iloilo. The whole city will be roused by the sound of the drums and other instruments as early as Friday morning.
The fluvial procession comes in the afternoon of Friday where devotees take a pump boat ride from the Fort San Pedro area towards the Aduana, the customs house. It is the meat of the religious facet of the festival, a short procession by the river where a flower-bedecked lead boat carrying the pilgrim image of the Senor Santo Nino, the Hermano and Hermana mayors and church officials, is followed by dozens of motorized bancas carrying the devotees. They are met by the Dinagyang tribes and other votaries as they disembark in front of the Aduana. Then a foot procession ensues from there passing the promenade by the river and leading to the central business district. Devotees carry various sizes and forms of the images of the Child Jesus. It ends at the San Jose Church for a Mass and blessing of the children.
The Kasadyahan on Saturday is a cultural depiction of how the locals celebrate fiesta in their respective towns, an assortment of locally grown leafy, fruity recipe. There is a certain twist and a new taste in this preparation. Where once, the participants bring in their local festival flavor to compete in the parade, the DepEd cooks come up now with a different concoction of jubilation and celebration. Kasadyahan has been under the auspices of the schools. There are six contestants in this cultural event with a myriad of sponsor groups and private businesses in tow. Kasadyahan makes use of recorded music and is made distinctly different from the Dinagyang dance showdown. The use of drum is limited to just providing rhythm. There is more sways and graceful measure in the choreography that is more folkloric and traditional.
It is the Sunday parade that is the main attraction of Dinagyang. Most out-of-towners would come early in the morning to catch the 6:30 AM concelebrated high mass at the San Jose Parish. This precedes the grandest most spectacular street parade this part of the universe – a cacophony of colors and sounds put together into a dance that reverberates in a multitude of figures and body kinetics. A Dinagyang tribe usually is composed of sixty warrior-dancers and forty drummer-instrumentalists. They present a seven-minute dance in the four performance areas scattered around the 4-km parade route. There is a portion of the stretch designated as street dance area where performers show off their parade routine – an abridged version of the showdown piece done in front of the four viewing stages.
Performances are judged by great achievers in the field of culture and the arts coming from all over the country. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) send their authorities to help Dinagyang choose a winner based on criteria set by the Judging and Tabulation Committee. Prizes are relatively meager because tribes are provided with subsidy.
There are twenty (20) participating tribes for the Sunday spectacle, each of them vies for the plum prize of a hundred thousand pesos, the honor to be recognized as the best, and the privilege to represent Iloilo in major national festival competitions. It also gives them the opportunity to corner big sponsors in the future. The competition is too tight, tribes have to keep their whole presentation secret until the day of reckoning. Some performers and choreographers have even made their participation as a career by choosing the tribe which could best serve their needs. Tribes with big budgets usually benefit from this because they have the logistics and the better offers.
Dessert is the awarding ceremony and fireworks display on the last night of the festival. And talking of fireworks, there is a Saturday night pyrolympics at the back of SM City Iloilo. Eighteen participants from around the country are joining in the First Iloilo Dinagyang Fireworks Invitational Competition. It is an incomparable three-hour "Luces in the Sky" which shall enthrall visitors and city folks alike; and make the Chinese New Year and Sunday Awards Night fire-shows mere flickers in the dark.
The recognition night brings out realization of who are the real pros and who remain flashes in the pan. It is the school-based tribes which usually excel and garner top honors. However, some lesser known and newly formed groups come out as revelations particularly those barangay groups that have merged with schools.
You can judge how the tribe would come out in the ranking by the company they keep as sponsors and by the looks of their costumes. You don't have to know how much exactly the budget of the tribe is; just check out its list of sponsors and the logo in their tees during the opening salvo.
Get your buffet plate now because Dinagyang is waiting. Catch, watch and match Dinagyang!