Philippine Travel Tips: Our Four Favorite Fabulous Fiestas and Festivals

Fiestas are celebrated all around the country, all year round.  Chances are, in any given day, there is a fiesta celebration in one of the cities or towns in the Philippines—you’ll never run out of action!  Anyone’s Philippine flights and travel could easily be spiced up by street-dances of painted up people’s faces garbed in colourful costumes over raucous drum beats.

True to its spirit, the locals are in their most festive moods, greeting everyone with the most infectious smile and laughter.  In bohol, the homeowners would be offended if you don’t enter their homes and partake of their food—even if you are a stranger.  In Camiguin, you can eat all the lanzones that you can for free during their October Lanzones festival.

Here are four of the more popular fiesta celebrations that features painted bodies and wild street dances, that you can calendar during one of your Philippine flights and travels:

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1. Masskara Festival in Bacolod City (October 14-21)

This festival is one of those great events that made Bacolod famous.  This show that no amount of hardship can put any Bocolodnon down.  Resilient, the Masskara Festival is the locals statement of how they face hardships—they still put on a happy face.  This event crescendos in a revelry of people with masks of smiling facing dancing, drinking eating, and being merry to the beat of the drum.

2. Pintados Festival in Tacloban City (June 29)

In the olden days, before the Spanish colonizers sat foot on the islands, the natives of Tacloban prided themselves of their tattoos signifying their courage and status as warriors.  The Pintados Festival is the Waray’s way of reviving this tradition through a wild wacky fiesta.  If your Philippine travel finds you in Tacloban  during this event, you can gladly join in the celebration by painting your body with “tattoos” and join the fun.

3. Ati-atihan in Kalibo, Aklan (January 13-19)

More colourful street dancing to add zest to your Philippine travel, the Ati-atihan in Kalibo, Aklan is a festival commemorating the 13th century deal the ten Bornean chieftains made with King Marikudo.  This festival also honors the town patron, Santo Niño.

Unlike the Pintados that paint their bodies with colourful tattoo designs, the Ati-atihan revelers paint their bodies soot-black all over representing the black-skinned native Atis of that era.

4. Sinulog in Cebu City (January 18-19)

One of the most famous fiesta from among the cities in the Philippines, Cebu City’s Sinulog has been the favourite of many.  Thousands of devotees around the country flock back to Cebu City to join in this celebration honouring the infant Santo Niño.

The sound of drums and whistles fill the air as the participants do the peculiar two-steps forward and the following one-step backward choreography on the main thoroughfares of Cebu City.  This is a prayer dance with the wild beating of the drums and the participants shout “Pit Señor! Viva Sto. Niño!"

Your Philippine travel wouldn’t be complete without experiencing and participating in any of these wild but fabulous street parties.