Our Very Own Kadayawan Festival

Kadayawan is an annual festival celebrated every 3rd week of August in our very own Davao City here in the Philippines. Derived from the friendly greeting "Madayaw", from our local word "dayaw", which means good, valuable, splendid or beautiful.  The festival is all about life's celebration... a showcase of our rich culture... and giving  thanks for the blessing of nature , the bounty harvest and for a life of tranquility.

The festivities highlights are the floral floats "Pamulak Kadayawan", street-dancing competitions "Indak-indak sa Kadalanan" and exhibits that showcase the island's tourism products and services "Dayaw Dabaw Street Market".  Other highlights were as follows; week-long food street event with nightly entertainment by local bands "Hudyakaan", Crafts-making showcase by the Lumads "Lumadnong Gama", Search for the indigenous young lass "Hiyas sa Kadayawan", Dance narratives of Mindanao myths, legends and folklore "Sayaw Mindanaw", Showcase of indigenous music of Mindanaoan composers and songwriters "Tunog Mindanaw", Fashion and floral design competition of indigenous wear "Moda Mindanaw" and many more.  I guess I missed a lot...

Some of the lovely floral floats during the parade...

Last August 19, was declared as special non-working holiday, exclusively for Davao (LOL), our family decided to roam around the city. We passed by and watched a show in front of Ducati KTM showroom... then we ate at D' Counters restaurant and finally crawled our way to the ocean of people just to enter People's Park as to give in to the children's request... "just exaggerating".  I was just  quite disappointed with this durian vendor... upon our way back home... we bought a durian fruit... aside from it's not that ripe, we were also cheated on its weight (I compared it to the other vendor's weighing scale)... the sad part was, upon returning to the place, the vendor was no longer there... "ipinasa-Diyos ko na lang" (leave it to Yahweh).  Overall, I still enjoyed the night since I was with the company of my family... and that's all that matters.  Well, that was my only Kadayawan experience this year... 

To all who visited our city... hoped you enjoyed the festivities and your stay here in Davao.  To those who haven't, your always welcome to join us next year... Yahweh bless Davao... and to Him be the glory.

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