Friday, August 22, 2008

Proud to be Davawenyo

Davao city is celebrating its 24th kadayawan festival. It is a festival of thanksgiving and celebration for a bountiful harvest. At this time of the year, anywhere you would go in Davao, you can see plenty of fruits and flowers. Davawenyos paid tribute to the king of all fruit “DURIAN”, the Queen of Philippine Orchid “Waling-waling” and the Mighty Mount Apo. It is a week long celebration and it is highlighted by the "indak-indak" on a saturday and the floral float parade on a sunday. The celebration of the kadayawan festival kicked off last week with lots of activities all around the city. Of course a lot of tourists flocked the city to celebrate with us. A lot of davawenyos who left Davao also came back to visit the city and celebrate Well almost everybody was up the whole day yesterday when all the malls had their midnight sale. Naturally there was traffic all over downtown. You just have to figure out which route you must take to be able to arrive to your destination with the least number of traffic stop.



Today is the must awaited indak-inak sa kadalanan in other words, “Dancing in the Streets”. Each Kadayawan Festival sees a spray of bright and dazzling colors as communities, schools, organizations, even groups of friends, present artistic interpretatons of traditional tribal dances. Right on the streets of downtown Davao. Indak-indak literally means stomping one’s feet on the ground. “Indak-Indak” is a crowd-drawer since the spectators are treated with a very enjoyable synchronized street dancing among a number of dancers dressed in a particular cultural group they are representing.

Later this afternoon, me and my friends are planning to go around the city and celebrate our very own kadayawan festival. We will go shopping since all malls are having their Mid-night sale and bar hopping.. I really love kadayawan so much hope you guys can celebrate with us. The Pamulak Kadayawan floral parade on the 24th should be a sight to see this year as well. Lots of picturesque floats, I’m sure! By the way, one activity that I hope you’ll go and be part of is Kaan Mindanaw. It’s also called "Kaan Dawet" or "eat and sing", to put it roughly. It’s a week-long event that will be held at the Rizal Park, where restaurants and caterers from all over the city will showcase their culinary best.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the information and photos!!! Festivals are great things to forget our problems and make us happy!!!

Anonymous said...

Very informative post, thanks I learned a lot,:-). Cheers!

ctdweller said...

Sometime in the past I had the chance to visit Davao City. Unfortunately, the visit took me as far as the hotel room. :-(

My companion at that time was doing a seminar lecture and that took a whole day. The next day, was bye bye time. Pity. I did not have enough courage to venture the city on my own.

Most times, fear can stifle us from enjoying experiences, otherwise unavailable if we fail to seize it at that opportune moment.

Carpe diem. I realized there's so much I had to let go because of imaginary fear, doubt and anxiety.

So, my unsolicited advice, seize every moment of fun and laughter. Now, is a good time as any.

Cheers!