Kasadyahan is the cultural showcase of Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival, the January celebration held in honour of the Santo Nino. While Dinagyang is best known for its high-energy ati tribe competition, Kasadyahan is a day of merrymaking and cultural performance, with contingents in bright costumes presenting choreographed routines rooted in local stories, history and traditions.
The photographs in this post are from the Kasadyahan competition during Dinagyang in January 2010. Shot in the streets of Iloilo City, they capture performers mid-routine – painted, costumed and dancing in formation – in a festival that fills the city with drumbeats and crowds every January.
Dinagyang shares its Santo Nino devotion with Cebu’s Sinulog, held on the same January festival season – see our Sinulog Festival Queen 2010 photographs.