Kasadyahan and Dinagyang 2008

Festival Season continues. . .
This time it was the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City, which looks A LOT like the Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo, only this time, Erin is in the parade! Save the Children marched (not only marched, but performed a choreographed dance routine over and over again for nearly 5 hours straight while marching 4 kilometers in 100 degree temperatures)in the Kasadyahan Parade along with many other community groups, businesses and tribal dancers. Save the Children joined in the festivities as an advocacy activity to promote maternal and child health. Let's just say we lined up at 5:30am and the parade finally wrapped up around 1:30pm. What a day! Yes, we really had a choreographed dance routine and matching neon green and white clothes. The TV cameras loved our group because we had 3 foreign volunteers marching among our ranks. Of course, being my camera shy self, I danced like crazy and hammed it right up for the crowd. It was a great day for a great cause.



Naira, Tita Norms, Naomi(Australian volunteer, also with Save the Children, but in a different city) and Erin showing our enthusiasm for maternal health and Dinagyang.


Check out those moves!



Healthy Mothers! Healthy Families!


Erin, Naomi and Star already posing for the camera at 6am



The main highlight of the Dinagyang is the tribal street dancing competition on the last day of the festival. Twenty different tribes (or performing High School/Community groups) from the island of Panay perform an elaborate dance routine at 4 different judging stations around the city. It is a sight to behold and one of my favorite traditions in the Philippines














And finally, no party is complete without chicken on a stick!