KADAYAWAN

Davao City gears up for week-long festival

By AMADA T. VALINO

Davao City is in the thick of preparations for the grand celebration of the 21st Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival on Aug. 14-20. It features a fruit and flower shows, tribal festivals, ethnic cultural shows, native products fair and beauty pageant.

The city government of Davao headed by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte and the Kadayawan sa Davao Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with Globe Telecom are leaving no stone unturned into marking another year of “thanksgiving celebration of cultural heritage, bounty, creativity and unity.”

According to city tourism officer Id Acaylar who is again in charge of this year’s Kadayawan celebration, the festival does not only involve the promotion of investment and tourism in Davao and Mindanao but also the promotion of arts and culture.

Kadayawan comes from the word “madayaw,” a warm and friendly greeting derived from “dayaw,” meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful. For such is Kadayawan, a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, wealth of culture, bounties of harvest and serenity of living.

What used to be a practice of thanksgiving for the indigenous people of Davao was institutionalized in 1986 to unite the Davaoenos after the Martial Law years. It was then called Apo Duwaling, a contraction of the famous icons of the city – Mt. Apo, durian and waling-waling. Two years later, it was renamed Kadayawan sa Dabaw to better reflect the merry spirit and indigenous theme of the celebration.

Kadayawan today has metamorphosed into a festival of festivals in the region as it honors Davao’s heritage, its past personified by the ancestral ‘lumads,’ the people as they celebrate on the streets and its floral industry as they parade in full regalia in thanskgiving for the blessings bestowed on the city.

Among the activities during the week-long celebration include a TABO-AgroIndustrial Fair (Aug. 1-21); Kaan DawetFood Street Fiesta (Aug. 11-20); Pasalamat-Festival Opening and Promenade; Tingog Kadayawan-Concert of 200 voices (Aug. 14); Hudyaka-nightly concerts (Aug. 14-20); Tugtog-World Music Festival (Aug. 15); Hiyas sa KadayawanSearch for the Festival Symbol; Urog Etnika-Mindanao Fashion Showcase (Aug. 16); Suba sa Kinabuhi-Davao River Festival; Agongan ug Kulintangan-Indigenous Music Festival (Aug. 17); Sayaw Mindanao Indigenous Dance Festival (Aug. 15, 16, 18); Hurawan-Bagobo Horse Rites; Lumadnong Kagikan-Indigenous Peoples’ Festival (Aug. 18); Indak-indak sa Kadalanan-Whole-day Street Dancing; Yanog ug Yugyugan sa Kadalanan-Street Disco (Aug. 19); and Halad-Floral Float Parade; Banda Lanog-Parade Band Competition on Aug. 20.

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