Dinagyang 2014: The First Day to My Dream Philippine Festival

Funny it may seem that it took me a year to prepare for this and yet I'm still unprepared to what I'll be doing here. One thing I'm sure of, I'm excited to experience one of the most colorful and celebrated festivals in the Philippines - Dinagyang Festival.

Happening every fourth weekend of January here in Iloilo City, Dinagyang is celebrated with tons of fun and excitement together with some faith as the Señor Sto. Niño of Cebu brought into a procession on the streets of Iloilo along with a great number of street dancers all dressed in shinning and shimmering costumes and swaying to unique drumbeats made by different band groups.

This year, there are about 16 contingents from different parts of Iloilo and of the Visayas are vying to be the Dinagyang 2014 champion. And on the first day of my Dinagyang vacation here in Iloilo, January 23, I am welcomed by not just some drumbeats and colorful masks and costumes but also genuine sweet smiles from Ilonggos, who made the festivity more memorable and worth-experiencing.

Aliwan Fiesta 2013

Seventeen colorful contingents and 14 amazing floats, I guess, that's how most of us will summarize the recently concluded battle of the champions, Aliwan Fiesta 2013. But did you know that there's one thing left, it was a gazillion of fun, surprises and spectacles too!

Seventeen colorful contingents from Luzon, Visayas and Mindandao battle it out yesterday at Manila and Pasay Cities for the annual celebration of Aliwan Fiesta. Organized by Manila Broadcasting Company for 17 years now, this celebration aims not only to promote our festivities to other countries, but also to invite the local tourist to see their own country.

I've seen to a lot of festivals since I started traveling, but I guess nothing beats this one because not only it takes place here in my own city, Manila, but also it never fails to gather the best of the best to bring fun and surprises to everyone who attend this gathering.

The Aliwan Fiesta 2012

The festival of all festivals has just been concluded, and with 21 contingents from all over the country competed on this year's Aliwan Fiesta, only one emerged as the grand champion. But before we go into those details, let me share to you first the other stunning and world-class performances that the other participants showcased today.

From Luzon, to Visayas, and down to Mindanao, Aliwan Fiesta 2012 gathered all the best festivals in our country to show to the whole of the Metropolitan Manila, and also to the whole country via the generous coverage of TV5, how our nation is filled with colors, creativity and rich culture.

This is my nth time to see this fiesta, and for the nth time, it never failed to wow me and literally take my breath away with the every amazing contingent that they have here performed. 

On its 10th year anniversary, Aliwan Fiesta just keeps the color flowing and the music getting louder. No wonder, local and international tourists really spend time catching this festivity.

And so, without further here's a glimpse of what happened earlier.