Dinagyang at 40
'One mind one heart for Señor Sto. Niño'
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Dinagyang Festival. Significantly, as Dinagyang reaches its 40th year it has gained recognition as a world-class festival attracting visitors from all over the world.
With its humble beginnings as a devotion to the Señor Sto. Niño forty years ago, Dinagyang Festival has grown into a tourist attraction the city and province of Iloilo can be proud of. For two consecutive years no less than the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (Atop) has named Dinagyang as the Best Tourism Event in the Philippines. No wonder, Dinagyang performers are always invited in various occasions not only in other parts of the country but also abroad.
What makes Dinagyang Festival a unique tourist attraction? It is the Ilonggo spirit of unity and the nature of being fun-loving people. Today, Dinagyang is not only known for the drumbeats, frenetic dance steps and well-designed costumes of the performers but also with food – as exemplified by the traditional Dinagyang Food Festival – and the merrymaking, where people not only serve as mere spectators but become part of the celebration.
Nevertheless, Dinagyang has not departed from the original spirit of the devotion. Weeks leading to the highlights of the Dinagyang, novenas and masses are held at the San Jose Church where the replica of the image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu is enshrined. Also, not to be missed is the the traditional fluvial procession of the Sto. Niño at the Iloilo River with the faithful.
Remarkably, this year the organizers of Dinagyang Festival have adopted several innovations in a bid to put more class and to further improve the celebration. Dinagyang tribe performers will now use dark brown color for their body paint instead of the traditional soot. Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) executive director Ben Jimena explains this move as a way to make Dinagyang performers “unique” compared with the performers of other festivals.
Also, judging areas have been reduced to four instead of the usual five. This is to lessen the strain on the part of the tribe performers who in the previous years had to hurdle five performance areas.
Several other adjustments had also been made on the contest rules to optimize the performance of each participating tribe.
It is also noteworthy that for the first time a group from outside the region – the Tribu Ivatan from Batanes – is joining this year's Dinagyang competition. As stated by Batanes Rep. Carlo Diasnes they have joined Dinagyang to promote tourism in their place, a thing only the best tourism event in the country could deliver.
Indeed, at forty years Dinagyang has grown grown into something “larger than life!”