Sinulog is Cebu's biggest, grandest and most popular celebration, held in honor of Señ or Santo Nino de Cebu. Every year, the enthusiastic locals clad in colorful, elaborate costumes coverge along the routes of a solemn procession and join the Visayan mardi gras parade, dancing the two-steps-forward-and-one-step shuffle while chanting" Viva Pit Señ or!" to the lively beating of the drums.
The festival is named after the Soli-Soli plant which abounds around Lake Danao and is used for weaving mats, bags, hats and other handicrafts, Its freestyle street dancing competition uses soli-soli plant as its dominant material. The festival concides with the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
Haladaya, which means Halad kang Datu Daya, commemorates the heroism of Daanbantayan's pre-Hispanic chieftain Daya who fervently looked afer the needs of his people and protected them from invaders. The celebration begins on Easter Sunday and ends seven days later with a jovial, colorful street dancing. Among the highlights of the festival are a fluvial parade of town patrons on ornately decorated bancas, a rice cake or puto-making competiton and a trade-agro fair that promotes the town's agricultural products.
Every year, Cebuanos gather together to re-enact the historic battle of the brave, resisting natives led by Rajah Lapu-lapu against Ferdinand Magellan and the Spaniard invaders in 1521. The re-enactment also serves to commemorate the victory of the natives in the country's first recorded act of nationalism.
Mantawi Festival promotes the city as an industrial and tourist hub by showcasing its cultural heritage and treasures. Wild street dancing, dioramas, colorful floats, higantes or big, tall men portraying heroes and great personages, grand food festival and sports events serve as the highlight of the celebration.
Palawod Festival honors fishing, the island's source of livelihood. The locals celebrate Palawod or the fishermen's toil through street dancing, music and visual arts that capture Bantayan's unique fishing rituals.
Named after the exotic eel abundant in Cordova, Bakasi Festival honors fishing, the town's source of livelihood. Cordovahonons dressed as fish, eels and other wonderful sea creatures parade the streets every year in a lively celebration of their proud fishing culture through traditional fishing rituals and dances replicating the movement of bakasi.
The spirit of the festival is found in the word Sinanggiyaw, which is derived from two old Cebuano words, Sinanggi meaning abundance of harvested argricultural products and Sayaw meaning dance. Street dancing and field performances display the rewarding toil of planting, harvesting and thanksgiving.
Inasal Festival (October 14-15, Talisay City)
Kabkkaban Festival ( Novemeber 24-25, Carcar)
The quiet town of Carcar celebrates the Feast of St.Catherine of Alexandria, the town's patron, with a grand feast that showcases not just the local delicacies and industries like shoemaking but also its centuries-old Hispanic edificies. The name of the festival is taken from Carcar's old name, Kankab, which is a kind of fern.
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