Sunday, August 10, 2008

Kadayawan Festival 2008 - Davao

It is a celebration of Good Harvest! This globally famous festival is a weeklong celebration
and thanksgiving for nature’s bountiful harvest. Kadayawan Festival is being celebrated
every 3rd Week of August. A celebration of the plentiful harvests of fruits and orchids
during the season. Kadayawan is derived from the prehistoric word “madayaw,” a warm and
friendly greeting also used to explain a thing that is valuable, superior, beautiful, good,
or profitable, “Kadayawan” in Mandaya means anything that brings fortune, a celebration of
life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest
and serenity of living. Ethnic tribes around Mt. Apo usually gathered during the
harvest-time when they had a bountiful harvest to give thanks to their gods particularly the
all-powerful Bathala (supreme God). According to legend, the occasion is noticeable by
happiness, singing, and dancing, as well as offerings to their divine protectors.

The festival began from a government-initiated program called “Unlad Proyekto Davao” in
1986, planned to unite the Davaoeños after the chaotic martial law years and to showcase the
city as a peaceful and colorful place to visit and do business in. At the time, it was
called “Apo Duwaling,”a name created from the icons Davao was famous for: Mt. Apo, the
country's highest peak; durian, the king of fruits; and waling-waling. The queen of orchids.
Davao is also home of the majestic Philippine eagle, the national bird. In 1988, the
festival was renamed “Kadayawan sa Dabaw” by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to celebrate the city's
unique wealth in flowers, fruits, and ethnic culture.

Today, Kadayawan has transformed into a festival of festivals, the mother of may other
festivals in the region as it honors Davao’s artistic, cultural and historical heritage, its
past personified by the ancestral “lumads”, its people as they celebrate on the streets, and
its floral industry as they parade in full regalia in thanksgiving for the blessings granted
on the city.

“Kadayawan sa Dabaw” is an enriching experience with a difference as its explores the past,
present and future of the Davaoeños, the Mindanaoans, the Filipinos. Its sights and sounds
remain supreme. Be part of the experience.

“Du-aw na sa Dabaw! Duyog sa Kadayawan! Maglingaw-lingaw ta!”

for more information visit
philippine country
kadayawan festival



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