Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival 2012 © Jojie Alcantara

Kadayawan sa Dabaw, Davao City, Philippines
© Jojie Alcantara

I am lucky to have spanned more than a decade of covering Mindanao’s most colorful and biggest festival in the islands. Through my work in the media as a TV anchor, columnist and photographer, I have been able to document more than a bird’s eye view of the dazzling pomp and spectacle that is Davao’s Kadayawan Festival, which earned its prestige as one of the most beautiful ethnic celebrations in the country.

Kadayawan, from the dialect “madayaw” meaning well and good, is a celebration of the goodness and harmony in life. Each year, the city has fully embraced the legacy of our ethnicity and diversity, while paying respects to the traditional rituals of our ancestors in thanksgiving to spirits who watch over our domain and the bounty of harvest that we are blessed to be receiving.

Thank you, SkyCable, for the years of working with you anchoring the live coverage of our festivals every year since 2001, and giving me a vantage proximity and perspective of performances and scenes which I have captured and shared globally. Madayaw na selebrasyon kanatong tanan!

Mabuhay Magazine | August 2013 Kadayawan Feature by Jojie Alcantara

Kadayawan Festival photos in Manila Bulletin by Jojie Alcantara

Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival photos in Cebu Daily News © Jojie Alcantara

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