The Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo, Aklan, on the island of Panay, is one of the Philippines’ best-known celebrations in honour of the Santo Niño, the Child Jesus. Participants with faces painted in soot and dressed in colourful, elaborate costumes dance through the streets to the beat of drums, chanting in devotion.
Held every January, the festival fills Kalibo with parades, music and crowds of devotees and visitors. It is often described as the mother of Philippine festivals, and its street-dancing tradition is closely associated with other Santo Niño celebrations elsewhere in the country.
The photographs in this post are from the Ati-Atihan Festival in 2013 in Kalibo, Aklan.
Kalibo, Aklan
Robin Pinzon
Festival contingents from across the country also gather each year in Manila — see our photographs of Aliwan Fiesta 2010.