The Ati-Atihan Festival

The incessant shouting of "Hala Bira!’ and "Viva Santo Niño" and the continuous pounding of drums will reverberate through the air and Filipino Catholics will once more congregate in this tiny island called Panay as they commemorate the Ati-Atihan Festival. Held every third week of January, the Ati-Atihan is said to be the wildest among Philippine fiestas and considered as the Mother of all Philippine festivals. Participants paint their faces with black soot and wear brightly-colored costumes as they participate in this week-long occasion marked with processions, parades, street-dancing, and merry-making in honor of the Santo Niño. The Santo Niño has long been the object of devotion of Filipinos ever since an image was first given as a gift to Juana, Queen of Cebu, in 1521.

Amidst the lavish celebration, the Ati-Atihan seems to only show revelry. A closer look, however, shows that it has historic origins. A 13th century event explains the origins of the festival. Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippine islands, a small group of Malay datus, fleeing Borneo, arrived on Panay. The original inhabitants of Panay, the Ati, a small and dark, kinky-haired people, sold to the immigrants a small piece of land and allowed them to settle in the lowlands. Sometime in the distant past, strong rains wiped out the hillside crops of the Atis. Left with no choice, the Atis came down from the highlands to ask for food from the foreign settlers. Blessed with a good harvest, the lowlanders shared their food with the black, kinky-haired people. The Atis danced and sang in gratitude for the helping hand. Since then, the Atis come down yearly to ritually solicit food through song and dance. The lighter-skinned Maraynon, as the Borneans came to be known, got into the spirit of the newly-established friendship by painting their faces with soot and aped the dance of the Atis. Thus the name Ati-Atihan was born. Ati-Atihan means "make-believe Atis" or "to be like an Ati."

The coming of the Sto. Niño into the fiesta started with the arrival of the Spaniards to the Philippines. A Spanish representative, Don Antonio Flores, the first encomendero of Aklan, made arrangements with the local leaders of the Atis and the leader of the immigrants from Borneo to have the then existing native celebration be dedicated to the Santo Niño. The early years of the Spanish colonial rule were marked by turmoil and unrest as other tribes defied the Spanish occupation of the islands. This included frequent battles with what the Spaniards called Chinese and Muslim pirates; and, it was during one of these battles that another version of how the Ati-Atihan came to be started. Muslim pirates raided a fort named after the Santo Niño. Fighting valiantly, the cannoneers drove the raiders away. When the smoke of battle cleared, the people went to the fort and shouted "Viva Santo Niño!" When the cannoneers emerged, they were black because of the smoke from the cannons. And the people said they looked like Atis. Hence, the word "Ati-Atihan." Since then, the people celebrate this event by painting themselves black like Atis and shouting "Viva Santo Niño!" and "Hala Bira!" (like telling the cannoneers to shoot).

Over the years, the Ati-Atihan Festival has grown to be a little more complicated and has now become a mixture of Catholic ritual, social activity, indigenous drama and tourist attraction. The Ati-Atihan Festival has become so popular that it has spawned similar fiestas all over the Visayas region. Now there is the Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo, the Sinulog of Cebu and the Binirayan and Handugan Festivals in Antique. In spite of the remoteness of the places where they are held, these fiestas continue to attract multitudes of devotees and revelers alike. This only shows proof of the Filipino’s unsinkable spirit; that despite the many adversities he is facing, the sun will still shine the next day and he will continue to live life to the fullest.