Kasadyahan

The tradition & historical record

The Kasadyahan Festival is a cultural festival that is part of the larger Dinagyang Festival held annually on the fourth Saturday of January in Iloilo City, Philippines. It precedes the main highlight of Dinagyang, the Ati Tribes Competition, which takes place the following day on Sunday. It is a competition among cultural festivals from different cities and towns in the Western Visayas region. The festival has also been known and rebranded as Kasadyahan sa Kabanwahanan since the Iloilo provincial government's takeover from the city government as the host in 2024, showcasing different competing festivals from across the province. ¹

The word Kasadyahan is derived from the Hiligaynon word sadya, which means joy, merriment, or happiness. The term Kabanwahanan, which is an addition to the festival's name, is derived from the Hiligaynon word banwa, which means town. ¹

The Kasadyahan Festival was first celebrated on January 26, 1968. It became part of the Dinagyang Festival in the 1980s to showcase the talents of the students as well as the rich cultural heritage of the province of Iloilo. In the first few years of this event, schools from various towns and cities in the province participated in this competition, but in recent times, the cultural competition confined only to the province has become a regional event, accepting entries from other provinces of the region, showcasing the best of Western Visayas cultural and historical heritage. In 2010, there was a proposal to separate the Kasadyahan from the Dinagyang Festival, but it was never finalized. The proposal came up again in July 2019 when the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI) announced that, starting in 2020, Kasadyahan would no longer be part of Dinagyang. Instead, they brought in the "sadsad," a merry-making tradition from the Ati-Atihan Festival of Kalibo, Aklan. Considerations were made for the celebration of the Kasadyahan Festival in a separate month or possibly incorporated into the celebration of Iloilo City's Charter Day. However, these plans got canceled due to the pandemic. Subsequently, in 2023, the festival returned as Kasadyahan Regional Cultural Competition into the Dinagyang Festival schedule, taking place on the Saturday preceding the main events of the mardi gras celebration or the Ati Tribes competition on Sunday. For the first time in Dinagyang 2024, the Iloilo provincial government was hosting the 2024 edition of Kasadyahan, which showcased different competing festivals in the province.