dagyang sa iloilo...

Last weekend was the most festive Dinagyang celebration that I’ve been at after so many years of missing out on being a spectator at the actual performances of the tribes. I can’t stay out under the sun too long due to my vitiligo and what a blessing it was that the weather was cool enough to just make me stay in one place for hours.

I remember that in high school we used to stay at a classmate’s house, they occupy this huge space at the second floor of a building just in front of the freedom grandstand - one of the performance areas of the Dinagyang tribes. We occupy one of the rooms in their house and watch the performance from a wide-open window. Usually the show ends around lunch time so we feast at their place for lunch. In the afternoon, we all go out and join the street dancing ‘til late and sometimes our feasting extends at another classmate's place for supper.

This used to be an annual activity for us even when we reached college and I think even a couple of years after that until the building that they were living in was demolished as it was one of the oldest structures in the city. I miss that so much as most of us are already living in different parts of the world and we can’t just get together easily for such celebration. It was good though that this year, some classmates came home and we were able to spend time together – but this time, since we’re older, they would rather stay at a more quiet place away from the city and talk after watching the Dinagyang.

So here are some of the great pictures taken by my sister at the performance area where I watched!