Culture and Heritage Tourism

Prof. Ava Katrina A. Osorio

The Ati-Atihan Festival

• the wildest among Philippine fiestas. s

The Ati-Atihan Festival

• a feast held annually in January in honor of the Santo Niño (Infant Jesus), concluding on the third Sunday, in the island and town of Kalibo, Aklan in the Philippines.

• The name "Ati-Atihan" means "to be like Aetas" or "make believe Ati's."

• Aetas were the primary settlers in the islands according to history books. They too are the earliest settlers of Panay Island where the province of Aklan is situated.

• Celebrants paint their faces with black soot and wear bright, outlandish costumes as they dance in revelry during the last three days of this week-long festival.• They believe that the miraculous Child

Jesus will protect them from harm and illness.

• During the last three days of this week-long festival (fiesta), a parade is characteristic.

• A colourful happening with celebrants who paint their faces in many different ways and who are dressed in the most exceptional costumes.

• The dancing on the rhythms of the drums makes this festival comparable with carnival in Rio in Brazil!

• The festival consists of tribal dance, music, accompanied by indigenous costumes and weapons, and parade along the street.

• Christians, and non-Christians observe this day with religious processions. It has inspired many other Philippine Festivals including the Sinulog Festival of Cebu and Dinagyang of Iloilo, both adaptations of the Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival.

• BOOM BOOM BOOM BO BOOM BO BO BO BOOM!

BOOM BOOM BOOM BO BOOM BO BO BO BOOM!

• The pounding of bass drums and the rhythmic tinkling of metal and stone on bottles reverberate in the air during the celebration. Monotonous and pulsating, the music blasts a while then stops to wait for a response from others. Drums beat continuously and everyone talks and shouts,

• HALA BIRA, PUERA PASMA!

•

• By midmorning, small groups gather in their respective neighborhoods. They are prodded by drums as they dance their way to the town center. They grow in numbers as different groups from outlying areas merge into one as they get closer to the center of town. Sometimes the crowd thins as a few drop out to worship in silence and offer themselves to their own gods. But they always come back to rejoin the group to disappear in the gyrating mob. The dancing never stops.

• All week long, celebrants arrive by land, sea, and air. As inter-island boats dock, they are greeted by pseudo-New Guinea tribal drummers. Tourists are ferried across rice fields and coconut plantations to Kalibo hotels while others are accommodated in private homes and public buildings. Others camp on the beach.

Viva kay Santo Niño!

• VIVA EL SEÑOR SANTO NIÑO!• It is said that the procession is the

climax of the fiesta. It is held on the last Sunday. The street dancers never fail to enter the Kalibo church every time they pass by.

•

• Celebrants ape the dance of the Atis, hence the name Ati-Atihan which means "make-believe Atis." This ritual is said to be the result of the sale of land in Panay by the Ati chieftain Marikudo to Datu Puti and the Borneans so that they can have a place to settle.

THE ORIGIN

The origin

• In the thirteenth century, long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, light-skinned immigrants from the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) in Indonesia arrived on Panay.

• The local people of Panay, the Ati (negritos), a small and dark (black) kinky-haired people, sold them a small piece of land and allowed them to settle down in the lowlands. The Atis themselves, lived more upland in the mountains.

• Datu Puti, Makatunaw's chief minister made a trade with the natives and bought the plains for a golden salakot, brass basins and bales of cloth.

• For the wife of the Ati chieftain, they gave a very long necklace. Feasting and festivities followed soon after.

• When strong rains wiped out hillside crops in the distant past, the Atis came down to ask for food. The lowlanders who had a good harvest shared their blessings with the black, kinky-haired people.

• Some time later, the Ati people were struggling with famine as the result of a bad harvest. They were forced to descend from their mountain village into the settlement below, to seek the generosity of the people who now lived there. The Datus obliged and gave them food. In return, the Ati danced and sang for them, grateful for the gifts they had been given.

• A real friendship was born and the Maraynon started to paint their faces black in honor of the Atis and took part in the fiesta.

Spanish influence

• A Spanish representative arranged a deal with the local leaders of the Atis and the leader of the immigrants from Borneo. The outcome of the deal was, that in the future the existing native celebration would be dedicated to the Santo Niño.

• The misoln was originally a pagan festival from this tribe practicing Animism, and their worshiping their anito god. Spanish missionaries gradually added a Christian meaning. Today, the Ati-Atihan is celebrated as a religious festival.

• the Santo Niño into the fiesta started with the intervention of the first encomiendero of Aklan, Don Antonio Flores. He made arrangements with Datu Malanga and Datu Madayog to have their then existing native celebration be dedicated to the Santo Niño.

• Every year since then, the mountain people have come down to ritually solicit food though song and dance.

• The "lighter-skinned Maraynon, as the Borneans came to be called, got into the spirit of the newly-established friendship by daubing their faces with soot and danced with the Atis."

Events

• The people attend masses for the Santo Niño, and benefit dances sponsored by government organizations.

• The formal opening mass emphasizes the festival’s religious event. The procession begins with a rhythmic drumbeats, and dances parading along the street.

• The second day begins at dawn with a rosary procession, which ends with a community mass, and procession.

• The phrase "Hala Bira! Pwera Pasma!" is originally associated with the Sto. Nino Ati-Atihan Festival as the revelers and devotees keep on going with the festivities all over the town from morning to the wee hours of the next morning, rain or shine, for one week or even more.

• The highlight of the festival occurs on the last day, the third Sunday of January, when groups representing different tribes compete for tourists' attention and prizes.

• The festival ends with a procession of thousands of people carrying torches and different kinds of images of the Santo Niño.

• The contest winners are announced at a masquerade ball which officially ends the festival.

References

• http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/culture3.htm• (Domingo:1996) http://

www.bibingka.com/phg/ati2han/default.htm• http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ati-Atihan_Festival• www.google.com• www.yahoo.com• http://theprojectreview.blogspot.com/2012/0

1/places-and-events-ati-atihan-asias-best.html