Fun Facts:
- for each group of performers, 75% of its participants are real Indigenous People, the dancers, the musicians and the costumes and accessories worn are the real deal.
- there are 7 tribes being portrayed in the festival and 22 groups performing
- the performance was split in to two days for maximum energy for the performers and the spectators
- the seven tribes names are : Bukidnon, Higaonon, Manobo, Matigsalug, Talaandig, Tiwahanon and Umayamnon
- when you travel, you will make new friends, and surely you will look forward to go traveling with them in the future.
I was there with Byaheng Mindanaw during the Kaamulan Festival's Centennial Celebration in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. Imagine a festival that has been around for 100 years! I wish there were pictures of the first ever Kaamulan festival.
We arrived at 3am from Davao city and it was very cold, so we did not use the AC and slept for more energy and woke up a few hours later for the Street Dancing on the first day.
I have been to most of the major festivals around the Phillipines and The Kaamulan Festival for me is the best event that gathers people of all ages and from every walk of life to celebrate their ethnic roots, traditions and Culture. I have seen kids in ethnic attire as young as 2 years old and there was a kid, probably 4 years old who was part of the street dancing! I have also seen old indigenous people, young boys and girls, teens, town mayors and mature individuals (old enough to be our mothers and fathers), all dancing under the heat of the sun!
In the Kaamulan Festival street dancing, each group tells a story through their streetdance, and there is no shortage of stories to tell, Bukdidnon Province has seven tribes all with rich culture shown through music, art, dance and weaving.
I did not sketch the Kaamulan streetdancing. I was taking pictures and videos and posted them in my Instagram account through the eyes of the Prodding Child.
But in the middle of the dancing, the music and the crowd, i saw a kid sitting on the side of the street sketching. I took pictures of him, i looked at his drawing, i made some suggestions on what was good to sketch from his point of view that time, i showed him my sketch notebook (i hope it would inspire him to draw more) and asked for his name, His name is Roldan, he was quietly drawing, i was happy that in the midst of the celebration, he found his inner calm to do what he wants without distraction, except for me, who distracted him from drawing.
After we witnessed the street dancing performers for the first day, we went to the Monastery of the Transfiguration (known for their aromatic coffee) and took some pictures in our ethnic costumes. I am not from Mindanao, i am from Visayas but i am proud to wear a T'boli ethnic garment. Maybe next time i will go with the more known Visayas ethnic attire which is only a G-string.
for more pictures visit my friend's entries about the event:
http://thetravelteller.com/kaamulan-festival-2014-one-hundred-years-of-cultural-legacy/
- for each group of performers, 75% of its participants are real Indigenous People, the dancers, the musicians and the costumes and accessories worn are the real deal.
- there are 7 tribes being portrayed in the festival and 22 groups performing
- the performance was split in to two days for maximum energy for the performers and the spectators
- the seven tribes names are : Bukidnon, Higaonon, Manobo, Matigsalug, Talaandig, Tiwahanon and Umayamnon
- when you travel, you will make new friends, and surely you will look forward to go traveling with them in the future.
I was there with Byaheng Mindanaw during the Kaamulan Festival's Centennial Celebration in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. Imagine a festival that has been around for 100 years! I wish there were pictures of the first ever Kaamulan festival.
We arrived at 3am from Davao city and it was very cold, so we did not use the AC and slept for more energy and woke up a few hours later for the Street Dancing on the first day.
Madayaw in our room at EMV Apartelle
I have been to most of the major festivals around the Phillipines and The Kaamulan Festival for me is the best event that gathers people of all ages and from every walk of life to celebrate their ethnic roots, traditions and Culture. I have seen kids in ethnic attire as young as 2 years old and there was a kid, probably 4 years old who was part of the street dancing! I have also seen old indigenous people, young boys and girls, teens, town mayors and mature individuals (old enough to be our mothers and fathers), all dancing under the heat of the sun!
Other performers did dance barefoot on the hot asphalt road!
Their Costumes are handmade by real members of their tribes
I did not sketch the Kaamulan streetdancing. I was taking pictures and videos and posted them in my Instagram account through the eyes of the Prodding Child.
But in the middle of the dancing, the music and the crowd, i saw a kid sitting on the side of the street sketching. I took pictures of him, i looked at his drawing, i made some suggestions on what was good to sketch from his point of view that time, i showed him my sketch notebook (i hope it would inspire him to draw more) and asked for his name, His name is Roldan, he was quietly drawing, i was happy that in the midst of the celebration, he found his inner calm to do what he wants without distraction, except for me, who distracted him from drawing.
After we witnessed the street dancing performers for the first day, we went to the Monastery of the Transfiguration (known for their aromatic coffee) and took some pictures in our ethnic costumes. I am not from Mindanao, i am from Visayas but i am proud to wear a T'boli ethnic garment. Maybe next time i will go with the more known Visayas ethnic attire which is only a G-string.
Monastery of the Transfiguration Church, Bukidnon Aug 30 2014 around 4pm
Before the rain started, we visited the EMV Orchard to pick Mangosteen and taste their super creamy and less smelly Durians! At the farm, i sketched an old water tank carriage, and drew a big house for a beautiful kid who recited a poem for us.
Detail of the drawing mecahnism of the water tank carriage. it is five in the afternoon and you can hear distant thunder and the clouds are gray... we had just picked some mangosteen and ate lots at the EMV Orchard, malaybalay bukidnon, august 30, 2014. Our Hosts: Mercidita and Edgardo Villamayor
Mermer & Me
A little kid asked me to draw a house...'Mermer' is her nickname. drawn at EMV Orchard before eating lots of singapore durian and the kid recited a poem
We slept early that night, after a wonderful dinner (the most memorable dish for me was the lechon, which tasted just right) hosted by the City Tourism Office. By 930pm i was asleep already but later that night i could hear the heavy rain pouring outside.
When i woke up in the morning, immediately went outside to feel the coldness of dawn on my skin, it was around 6am and i could see the fog slowly covering the hillside and the trees, so i did some sketching before it all became Gray. When i was done sketching, i really liked the scene and did not want to ruin the drawing with my bad handwritting so i wrote about it on the opposite page of the notebook, and it was a good idea because the date i wrote was wrong.
the real date of this drawing is 31st, august '14. Morning fog on a hill outside EMV Apartelle, i really like my drawing so i wrote here to not taint it with words, 6am first of september 2014, malaybalay bukidnon, philippines, 2nd day of Kaamulan Centenial Festival
After getting ready, we went to have an early breakfast then watched more street dancing, and took more photos, then we went around the Kaamulan grounds where the second part of the each group's presentation was to be witnessed.
we tried desperately to ask for their costumes and accessories but failed
Each group's float's were elaborately decorated and it is where the live ethnic musicians were on, banging their big drums and bamboo percussions and jumping and dancing with each sound they make. Some groups were even chanting! We can only watch in amazement how each float is jumping up and down with the musical rythmn like there was a big rave party going on inside, there was no rave party, no electronic music playing, it was the Kaamulan Beat!
there are gaps in between presentations because groups actually stop from walking and really go Dancing!
http://thetravelteller.com/kaamulan-festival-2014-one-hundred-years-of-cultural-legacy/