Festivals

Every year, hundreds of fiestas are celebrated in the Philippines and it's well worth timing your journey to see one of the major ones. It's at these festivals that you get a chance to see legendary Filipino hospitality at its best. The beer flows, pigs are roasted and there's dancing in the streets for days on end. More solemn fiestas, usually religious in nature, are a mixture of devotion, drama, passion and reaffirmation of faith. The crucifixions held every Good Friday in Pampanga draw tourists who come to see penitents being flogged then nailed to a cross. Other major festivals include the Ati-Atihan every third week of January in Kalibo, the Flores de Mayo held throughout May in honour of the Virgin Mary, and the Lanzones festival every October in Camiguin celebrating the island's favourite fruit.

Major festivals

Feast of the Black Nazarene , January 9, Quiapo, Manila.

Sinulog , third Sunday of January, Cebu City.

Ati-Atihan , third week of January, Kalibo, Aklan province.

Moriones , Easter weekend, Marinduque.

Pahiyas , May 15, Lucban, Quezon.

Flores de Mayo , throughout May, countrywide.

Carabao Carroza (water buffalo races), May 3 and 4, Iloilo City, Panay Island.

Carabao Festival , May 14 and 15, Pulilian, Bulacan Province and Angono (Rizal Province).

Kadayawan sa Davao , third week of August, Davao City.

Peņafrancia Fluvial Festival , third Saturday of September, Naga City, Camarines Sur.

Lanzones festival , third week of October, Lambajao, Camiguin.

Masskara , second week of October for one week, Bacolod, Negros Occidental.