We had planned our trip to Davao City to coincide with the Kadayawan Festival. When I was living in Davao City ten years ago, I was not even aware that there was such a festival and I only accidentally saw the parade that culminated the festivities. Since then I have wanted to go back to Davao City to experience the festival. During the weeklong celebration, there are many activities and exhibits around the city.
We visited the Museo Dabawenyo located near the City Hall; admission is free. We wanted to go through the museum at our own pace but our guide said that it was their job to accompany visitors and explain the various displays. We learned a lot about Davao’s history. Unfortunately, once inside, no photography was allowed.
The other museum is called the Davao Museum; this is located inside the Insular Village in Lanang. Unlike the Museo Dabawenyo, this one charged an entrance fee. However, we were free to take photographs and look through the displays at our leisure.
The People’s Park was a venue of daytime activities and nightly performances. Outside the park, there was the night market where you could find an array of goods and food; you could even get a henna tattoo.
There were two parades scheduled for the weekend: the “Indak-indak sa Kadalanan” and the “Pamulak Kadayawan.” Indak-indak was more of street dancing while the Pamulak was a parade of floral floats and more. The Pamulak parade actually started with an early morning motorcade featuring all sorts of cars. The parade proper included motorbikes, bicycles, horseback-riders, people on foot, more street dancing and the floral floats. On both days, people lined the streets and the air was very festive. Vendors also took the opportunity to do brisk business, selling refreshments, balloons, hats and other merchandise. We were lucky to be staying at a downtown hotel just off CM Recto Street which was along the parade’s route. We just had to walk up the street to get to the parade’s starting point close to the Aldevinco Shopping Center. After the parade, we hit the shops of Aldevinco.
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| Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan |
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| Pamulak Kadayawan |
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| Floral floats of local businesses |
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| Parade spectators |
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| Refreshments |
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| Aldevinco |
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