Once again Davao City celebrated its most anticipated festival, the Kadayawan Festival. The festivity is a celebration of life, culture and a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature. It is held annually on the third week of August. Highlights of the festival include Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan (for street dancing) and Pamulak sa Kadalanan for (float parade).

The name Kadayawan is derived from the friendly greeting “madayaw”  from the Dabawenyo word “dayaw”  which means good, superior, valuable or beautiful. It began from a government –initiated program called “Unlad Proyekto Davao” in 1986, at that time the festival was called “Apo Duwaling”.

In 1988, the Apo Duwaling Festival was renamed “Kadayawan sa Dabaw” which is popularly known as Kadayawan Festival. Presently, Kadayawan has evolved into a festival of festivals that honors Davao’s cultural, artistic and historical heritage. It is also the way to showcase the region’s tourism products and services.

This year’s Kadayawan Festival was celebrated last August 11 to 17, 2014 with the theme: “Kalamboan sa Kinaiyahan: Kadayawan sa Katawhan” that can be translated into Nature’s flourishing: People’s Well Being. The festival started with a fair and a photo contest.

Just like other festivals, Davao City’s major streets were filled with dancers in colorful costumes and floats covered with vibrant flowers — a scene that happened over the weekend during the Indak sa Kadalanan street dancing (August 16) and Pamulak sa Kadalanan floral float parade (August 17).

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City said that Kadayawan Festival is a reminder to the people of Davao to always work together for progress and respect each other despite the different cultural backgrounds of the region’s various tribes.

How to get there:

Davao City is accessible by air, sea and land transportation.  It is just an hour and 40 minute flight from Manila and only 40 minutes away from Cebu City. There are daily direct flights to Davao City serviced by Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and other local airlines.

For tourist attractions in Davao City, you may read this article: Ten Tourist Attractions in Davao City that are worth visiting