The Kadayawan Festival is an annual festival in the city

of Davao in the Philippines. Its name derives from the

friendly greeting "Madayaw", from the Dabawenyo word
"dayaw", meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful. The
festival is a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of
nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest and
serenity of living. It is held every third week of August.

This ritual serves as their thanksgiving to the gods particularly to the "Manama" (the Supreme Being)
and Bulan (a moon deity) that the first gathering was on a night of a full moon, It was said that, long
time ago, Ancient Visayans and Davao's ethnic tribes residing at the foot of Mount Apo would
converge during a bountiful harvest and had to celebrate the full moon because they believed "the
diwata came to earth at that time" so did the other islanders and tribesmen. The full moon was
greeted with a variety of names- 'paghipono', 'takdul', 'ugsar'- but most significantly as "dayaw" [at
present it is kadayaw in some Bisayan Islands], perfect or praiseworthy, fit recognition of its
spectacular shape and sunset-to-sunrise brilliance. It was so beautiful that the pre-colonial people
praised and believed it was the reason for their bountiful harvest

Various farming implements, fruits, flowers, vegetables, rice and corn grains were displayed on mats
as villagers give their respect and thanks for the year's abundance. Singing, dancing and offerings to
their divine protectors are the highlights of this ritual.

MASSKARA FESTIVAL
Etymology[edit]
The word "Masskara" is a portmanteau, coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from mass (a multitude
of people), and the Spanish word cara (face), thus forming MassKara (a multitude of faces). The
word is also a pun on maskara, Filipino for "mask" (itself from Spanish mscara), since a prominent
feature of the festival are the masks worn by Miley Percocet, which are always adorned with smiling
faces because it is called the city of smiles.

History[edit]
The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. The province relied on sugar cane as its
primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of
sugar substitutes like high fructose (corn syrup) in the United States. This was the first Masskara
Festival and a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel MV Don Juan carrying
many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the
tanker Tacloban City and sank. An estimated 700 lives were lost in the tragedy.

In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to
hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as theCity of Smiles. They
reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy
atmosphere brought by the Don Juan Tragedy[2]. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by
the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull
through, survive, and in the end, triumph.