Music

• Festival dances


  Dances that show cultures. A chance to show the rich culture and history. Can be religious or secular, usually performed to honor a patron saint or give thanks for a good harvest.
• Types of festival dances


  • Religious
  • Secular
• Religious festival dances


  • Not just to display art, culture, and talents. Ways to honor and pay respect to patron saints.
• Secular festival dances


  • Non-religious dances, not held to honor a saint, but celebrated as giving thanks for an abundant harvest.
• Sinulog Festival


  Religious festival held in Cebu to honor the Senior Santo Niño, a gift from Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.
• Ati-Atihan Festival


  Also known as The Mother of All Festivals in the Philippines, in honor of the Santo Niño.
• Pahiyas Festival


  Harvest festival held to honor the patron saint San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers.
• Moriones Festival


  Held during Holy Week, a re-enactment of what happened to a Roman soldier named Longinus who had one blind eye.
• Higantes Festival


  Celebrated to honor Angono's patron saint San Clemente, a folklore says the locals made "higantes" or giant paper mache as a form of protest against Spanish colonization.
• Bangus Festival


  Held in Dagupan City, the Bangus Capital of the Philippines, to promote the city's milkfish.
• Panagbenga Festival


  Held in Baguio City to celebrate the bloom of beautiful flowers in their community, "Panagbenga" means "a season for blossoming".
• Masskara Festival


  Held in Bacolod to raise the morale and cheer up the people's spirits, the colorful masks help the community stay resilient.
• Lanzones Festival


  Celebrated in Camiguin Island for the abundant harvest of a very sweet lanzones fruit.
• Kadayawan Festival


  Celebrated in Davao City as a thanksgiving and tribute to the indigenous Lumad people.
• Ati-Atihan Festival


  Feast held in honor of the Santo Niño held annually in January concluding on third Sunday, in the town of Kalibo, Aklan in the Philippines
• Ati-Atihan Festival


  • Celebrants paint their faces with black soot and wear bright, outlandish costumes as they dance in revelry during the last three days of this two week-long festival
• Sinulog


  Festival honors the child Jesus, known as the Santo Niño (Holy Child), patron of the city of Cebu. It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Christianity
• Sinulog


  • Features a street parade with participants in bright-colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets, and native gongs
• Dinagyang


  Religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January
• Dinagyang was voted as the best Tourism Event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines
• Panagbenga Festival


  Festival in Baguio created as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise up from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake
• Panagbenga Festival


  • Includes floats that are decorated with flowers unlike those used in Pasadena's Rose Parade. The festival also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, that is inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of celebration that came from the Cordillera region
• Kaamulan Festival


  Bukidnon ethnic-cultural festival, from the Binukid word amul, "to gather", is an indigenous Bukidnon term for a gathering for any purpose
• Kaamulan Festival


  • Held in Malaybalay City from the second half of February to March 10, the anniversary date of the foundation of Bukidnon as a province in 1917, to celebrate the culture and tradition of the seven ethnic tribal groups-Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon-that originally inhabited the province
• Moriones


  Annual festival held on Holy Week on the island of Marinduque. The "Moriones" are men and women in costumes and masks replicating the garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks - Morion means "mask" or "visor," a part of the medieval Roman armor which covers the face
• Maleldo / Cutud Lenten Rites


  Every year on Good Friday or the Friday before Easter a dozen or so penitents - mostly men but with the occasional woman - are taken to a rice field in the barrio of San Pedro Cutud, 3km (2 miles) from the proper of City of San Fernando, Pampanga and nailed to a cross using two-inch (5 cm) stainless steel nails that have been soaked in alcohol to disinfect them
• Turumba


  Festival held in Pakil, in the province of Laguna between April and May. It commemorates the seven sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is held 7 times each year between the months of April and May
• Flores de Mayo & Santacruzan


  Catholic festival held in the Philippines in the month of May. Santacruzan is the queen of Maytime festivals. It is a novena procession, in commemoration of Saint Helena's finding of the cross. Saint Helena was the mother of Constantine the Great
• Carabao Festival


  Held in Pulilan in Bulacan Province, San Isidro in Nueva Ecija Province, and Angono in Rizal Province. On the first day, farmers pay homage to the carabao, the farmer's best friend. On the second day, the carabaos compete in a friendly race
• Pahiyas Festival


  Lucban celebrates the Pahiyas Festival in honor of the patron saint of farmers, St. Isidore. The festival showcases a street of houses which are adorned with fruits, vegetables, agricultural products, handicrafts and kiping, a rice-made decoration, which afterwards can be eaten grilled or fried
• Obando Fertility Rites


  Filipino dance ritual held in Obando, Bulacan, Philippines during the month of May. The men, women and children wear traditional dance costumes to dance on the streets followed by the images of their patron saints San Pascual Baylon (St. Paschal), Santa Clara (St. Clare) and Nuestra Señora de Salambao (Our Lady of Salambao), while singing the song Santa Clara Pinung-Pino
• Pintados Festival


  Merry-making event lasting a whole month in Leyte, highlights of which include the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals, the Pintados Festival Ritual Dance Presentation and the Pagrayhak Grand Parade
• Sandugo Festival


  Held in Bohol, commemorates the blood-sealed peace treaty between the Spanish colonizers and the local people
• Kadayawan Festival


  Annual festival in the city of Davao, a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest and serenity of living
• Peñafrancia Fluvial Festival


  Held in Naga City, Camarines Sur, Bicol Region. During the festivities, people attend church services, followed by parades on the streets, fireworks, and feasting. The highlight is a fluvial procession where the image of the Virgin Mary is carried on a barge which is trailed by thousands of devotees in boats gliding alongside
• Zamboanga Hermosa Festival


  Held in Zamboanga City, features a wealth of cultural and flower shows, art exhibits, and trade fairs. It's an all-out celebration of life - Chavacano style!
• MassKara Festival


  Week-long festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province. Features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats
• Lanzones Festival


  Week-long festival held in October in the Philippines, one of the more colorful events in the country
• Higantes Festival


  Held in Angono, coincides with the Feast of Saint Clement, the Patron Saint of Angono. Features giant paper-mache figures called "higantes" that measure four to five feet in diameter and ten to twelve feet in height
• Giant Lanterns Festival


  Annual festival held in December (Saturday before Christmas Eve) in the City of San Fernando in the Philippines, features a competition of giant lanterns