Dayaw Festival opens today

All roads lead to Energy Park in Apokon, Tagum City today for the opening ceremony of Dayaw Festival: National Indigenous Peoples Month Celebration which will highlight the country’s indigenous peoples, celebrating their arts and way of life, discuss important issues affecting them and generate awareness of the richness and importance of indigenous cultures.

Tagum City Mayor Rey T. Uy along with his wife, Mrs. Alma L. Uy, the president of the City of Tagum Tourism Council will lead the opening ceremony of the festival which will be attended by estimated by less than 400 indigenous peoples from the different parts of the country.

Entrance of the Energy Park in Tagum City. This is where amazement begins.

Bigwigs from theCultural Center of the Philippines, the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples, government agencies and civic society organizations are also attending the event.

After the opening program, the symbolic opening of the Dayaw Exhibit will take place. The exhibit’s venue at Energy Park features different vernacular houses as well as handicrafts of IP brethrens. Also seen in the park are masterpieces of renowned artist Kublai Milan.

The exhibit, dubbed Pag-alim sa Kalinaw: From Ritual to Art, Linking Art and Life, the exhibit is designed to highlight the similarities of the Indigenous Peoples in terms of worldview and lifeworld --- as manifested in their traditional arts, craft andother aspects of their material cultures. The exhibit shall likewise affirm andrecognize the richness of the Indigenous knowledge systems and practices of the IPs. Moreover, the exhibition emphasizes that for the Indigenous, Art and Life are interconnected. This exhibit is open to the public.

Also happening today are cultural interactions in several venues such as the Mansaka Village in Barangay Pandapan, University of Mindanao Tagum College and Saint Mary’s College.

This year’s Dayaw Festival is under the auspices of the NCCA’s Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts, Mindanawon Foundation, the City Government of Tagum and the City of Tagum Tourism Council. DAYAW REPORTORIAL TEAM