Philippine Festival Dances

Ati-Atihan Festival Sinulog Festival

Masskara Festival
Ati-atihan
festival
Sinulog Festival
Maskara
Festival
  Festival Dances are cultural dances
performed to the strong beats of
percussion instruments by a community
What are festival of people sharing the same culture
Dances ? usually done in honor of a Patron Saint
or as a thanksgiving of a bountiful
harvest. Festival dances may be religious
or secular in nature.
2 Characteristics  Religious
of Festival  Secular
Dancess
 Philippines' celebration of the fiesta is mostly religious in nature as this
The influence of was because of the influence of the Spanish colonization. . example the
Religion to Sinulog Festival
which honors the Señor Santo Niño or the Child Jesus, an image of
Festival Dances which was a gift from the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to
Raja Humabon and Hara Amihan when he came to conquer the
Philippines in 1521. ‘Sinulog’ is derived from the Cebuano
adverb ‘sulog’, which roughly translates to “like water current
movement”—the inspiration for the festival’s famous two steps
forward, one step backward dance.
While recent years have made Sinulog more notorious for its street
parties, there are still millions of devotees who make the pilgrimage to
the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, the oldest Roman Catholic
church in the country, built on the spot where the statuette of the Child
Jesus was found by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565.
10 Most common Festivals in the Philippines

Ati-Atihan Dinagyang Pahiyas Festival – Panagbenga Festiv

Sinulog Festival – al – Baguio City
Cebu Festival – Aklan Festival – Iloilo C Lucban, Quezon
ity

Kadayawan MassKara Higantes

Lechon Festival –
Batangas Festival – Davao Festival – Bacolo Tuna Festival – Ge Festival –
City d neral Santos City Angono, Rizal
 At 1200 A.D. event explains the origins
of the festival. A group of 10 Malay
 chieftains called Datus, fleeing from the
island of Borneo settled in the
Ati – Atihan Philippines, and were granted settlement
by the Ati people, the tribes of 
Festival Panay Island. Datu Puti made a trade
( History) with the natives and bought the plains for
a golden salakot, brass basins and bales
of cloth. They gave a very long necklace
to the wife of the Ati chieftain. Feasting
and festivities followed soon after
Some time later, the Ati people were struggling with famine as the
result of a bad harvest. They were forced to descend from their
mountain village into the settlement below, to seek the generosity of
the people who now lived there. The Datus obliged and gave them
food. In return, the Ati danced and sang for them, grateful for the gifts
they had been given.

The festivity was originally a pagan festival from this tribe practicing
Animism, and their worshiping their anito god. Spanish missionaries
gradually added a Christian meaning. Today, the Ati-Atihan is
celebrated as a religious festival
 The Ati-Atihan Festival is a Philippine festival held annually in
January in honor of the Santo Niño (Holy Child or Infant Jesus) in
several towns of the province of Aklan, Panay Island. The biggest
celebration is held during the third Sunday of January in the town of 
Kalibo, the province’s capital. The name Ati-Atihan means "to
imitate Ati", the local name of the Aeta people, the first settlers of
Panay Island and other parts of the archipelago. The festivity was
Ati – atihan originally a pagan celebration to commemorate the Barter of Panay,
where the Aeta accepted gifts from Bornean chieftains called Datu,
Festival who fled with their families to escape a tyrannical ruler, in exchange
for being allowed to dwell in the Aeta’s lands. They celebrated with
dancing and music, with the Borneans having painted their bodies
with soot to show their gratefulness and camaraderie with the Aeta
who had dark skin. Later on, the festivity was given a different
meaning by the church by celebrating the acceptance of Christianity,
as symbolized by carrying an image of the Holy Child or Infant Jesus
during the procession.
The festival consists of religious processions and street-parades,
showcasing themed floats, dancing groups wearing colorful costumes,
marching bands, and people sporting face and body paints. The street
parade is known as "Sadsad", which is also what the locals call their way
of dancing where the foot is momentarily dragged along the ground in
tune to the beat played by the marching bands. Even though the festival
was given a Christian meaning, the tradition of people painting their face
and body, in honor of the Aeta, has continued. Christians and non-
Christians join the celebration which attracts tourists from different parts
of the country as well as foreigners. It has inspired other Philippine
Festivals such as Dinagyang of Iloilo City and Sinulog festival of Cebu,
thus, it is known as the Mother of All Philippine Festivals
 The MassKara Festival started at a period of disaster and despair in Negros
Occidental. World market costs for sugar, the region’s monocrop, plummeted.
And its effect was felt, by everyone.
A year before the MassKara Festival was born, two artists visited then
Mayor Jose “Digoy” Montalvo and submitted the idea of promoting mask
making as a substitute income for the metropolis.
The two, George Macainan and Ely Santiago, proposed to help teach
barangay folk how to create masks out of paper mâché. Montalvo loved the
idea of mask-making for income. But how would the masks made by the
barangays be sold? Who would purchase them? The mayor had an answer:
Let’s have a mask festival!
Masskara Santiago sketched the initial MassKara logo, and thought of the title of the
festival: MassKara; “mass” meaning several; “kara” meaning faces. Literally,
Festival (History) it is a Festival of Many Faces.
Montalvo had answered: “Exactly because of the disaster and catastrophe, the
more we require a festival that would bring back the smile on people’s faces
and make them dance.
Hence the MassKara’s fundamental meaning is that it is a statement of the
people’s determination to get over hardship and win over disaster, misfortune,
and adversity. It also trailed the placing of Bacolod as “The City of Smiles”
Then M/V Don Juan — an inter-island boat transporting several Bacolenos
and Negrense, plus important families — sank in April 22 of the same year,
tallying to the despair. In its wake, the question rose: With the disaster and
misfortune, should the festival continue as planned?
 Sinulog is held in celebration of one of the country’s
most famous historic relics: the Santo Niño de Cebú.
This was the statue of the baby Jesus that was handed
to the Rajah Humabon of Cebu by the Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.
This was one of the most important events in the
religious history of the Philippines as it paved the way
to the birth of Christianity in the country.
Sinulog Festival At the moment of receiving the holy image, it
was said that Queen Juana, the main consort of
Rajah Humabon, danced with joy holding this
image of the child Jesus.
The other natives followed her example, and
this event was regarded as the first Sinulog
dance. The same event was used as the basis
for most Sinulog dances
The Sinulog dance steps are also believed to originate from Baladhay, Rajah
Humabon's adviser. When Baladhay got sick, Humabon ordered his tribe to bring
Baladhay into a room where the Santo Niño was enthroned.
After a few days, Baladhay was heard shouting and was found dancing by the native
tribe. Baladhay was asked as to why was he was shouting and dancing. He pointed at
the image of the holy Jesus and explained that baby Jesus was tickling him.  
In turn, Baladhay danced with the little child and explained that he was dancing the
movements of the river. To this day, the two-steps forward, the one-step backward
movement is still used by Santo Niño devotees who believe that it was the Santo
Niño's choice to have Baladhay dance.
Sinulog comes from the Cebuano word “sulog” which means “like water
current movement” which depicts the forward-backward step of Sinulog
dance.
Fill up the table with necessary information

FESTIVAL DANCE WHERE AND WHEN IT IS WHY IT IS BEING

CELEBRATED CELEBRATED

ATI – ATIHAN FESTIVAL

SINULOG FESTIVAL

MASKARA FESTIVAL
Assignment ( Do this in your notebook)

1. What is one thing in common with the three festival dances?

2. How can involvement of culture and traditional dances help develop a person physically?
3. Study the following festival dances and prepare for a quiz before the discussion next
meeting:
 Moriones Festival
 Kadayawan Festival
 Panagbenga Festival
THANK
YOU 