Ati-Atihan Festival

If you like your religious events with a tribal feel and a heavy drum beat then the Ati-Atihan Festival may just be worth the journey to the Philippines. For three days every January the town of Kalibo on the island of Panay, comes to life with an abundance of colourful indigineous costumes and weapons in street parades where crowd participation is actively encouraged.

Ati-Atihan Festival Articles

Article Title: Mardi Gras - Filippino Style

New Orleans is not the only home of Mardi Gras, there are four of them right here in the Philippines, each with their own unique style, culture and origins.

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Article Title: Ati-Atihan Festival

The noise strikes you first. It's thick, heavy, relentless, a bone-rattling clamour that fills every available inch of airspace. It sounds like the march of a thousand jackbooted skeletons on their way to pay a visit on someone unpleasant, like the dentist or the taxman. Your brain takes it in as an all encompassing roar initially, but gradually the different rhythms and tempos become apparent. Over here an intricate staccato. Over there a dull thud. Right over there a mixture of the two but at twice the speed.

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