Image of Kadayawan Festival © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.
I'm always game for an excuse to go back to my hometown. This month, my cousin fortuitously scheduled her wedding in Davao City, Philippines to occur on the same week as the Kadayawan Festival. So yay for me!
Having been based elsewhere for so much of my adult life, I'd missed out on the Kadayawan Festival for years. Its timing during the third week of August conflicted with much of the routine I'd followed since moving out of town.
The most colorful part of the Kadayawan Festival was the Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan - a parade of kids from schools all around the island of Mindanao, all bedecked in imaginative tribal designs. The parade winds through the city streets, culminating in front of the Davao City Hall, where the kids pull out all the stops in a dance extravaganza, competing for prizes from the city government.
Image of Kadayawan Festival © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.
I found the city center a bit too crowded for my taste; I found that the crowds lining the parade route were thinner further uptown, and the police there were less strict about photographers winding between the floats to catch the action up close.
The Kadayawan Festival takes place on the third week of August every year, and is one of the most-anticipated festivals on the island of Mindanao in the south of the Philippines. For more on this week-long feast, read our article: Kadayawan Festival, Davao City, Philippines, or find out more about holidays in this country in our article: Philippines Fiestas.
Image of Kadayawan Festival © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.