Kadayawan Festival in Davao

Davao City gets over-crowded with visitors on three important occasions:

1. Christmas Seasons – when everyone wants to know how everyone’s doing in Davao.
2. Araw Ng Dabaw – the founding anniversary of Davao City
3. Kadayawan Festival – A Thanks Giving turned into a Festival.

Madayaw! It’s a simple word signifying warm greetings from Davao. Madayaw! is to Davao as Mabuhay! is to the Philippines or Alloha! is to Hawaii. You will come across that word especially when you are here in Davao during the month of August when the city celebrates the Kadayawan Festival. It’s written all over the place: posters, billboard ads, and if you are quick, you can spot it reflected in everyone’s face.

Kadayawan Festival is a celebration of a bountiful harvest and a tribute to Davao’s rich cultural heritage. That’s to oversimplify the description of the festival.

Visit Davao on August and see what it really means to celebrate the Kadayawan. And if you do, go back to this blog and post your comment to share your experiences.

In the meantime here are some nice shots of the previous Kadayawan Festivals grabbed from Flickr.

One of the usual attractions of the Kadayawan Festival is the Floral Parade where beautiful flowers and different kinds of orchids are being showcased.

Indak-indak sa dalan is the local version of Street Dancing. Kadayawan is not without it.

And of course, the people. Foreigners, visitors from all over the Philippines, and local folks will be down the streets to celebrate the Kadayawan. Will you be there?