Hala Bira! and the Santo Niño

The oldest Christian devotion in the Philippines is the Santo Nino. In 1521, Magellan presented the wife of Rajah Humabon with an image of the Holy Child. Forty-four years later, this Flemish statuette was recovered by Legazpi and Urdaneta, who ordered that it be enshrined in the very first church constructed in the islands and that the church be named Holy Name of Jesus. This was the precursor to the modern Basilica Minore del Santo Nino. The devotion of the Holy Child has flourished throughout the Islands.

The most uninhibited fiesta in the Philippines is the Ati-Atihan, celebrated in Kalibo, Aklan every third Sunday of January in honor of the Infant Jesus (along with many other fiestas around the country). The origin of the Ati-Atihan has been lost in Aklan’s history but one of the charms of custom is that its practice remains long after its raison d’etre has been forgotten.

One commonly held myth is that the Ati-Atihan dates back to the Maragtas. Totally ignoring the fact that the Maragtas is neither history nor folklore; it is not history because there is no way of authenticating its authorship, place, date of writing and veracity; it is not folklore because it is not found in oral history. Others date the Ati-Atihan to the early part of the conquista. That basic story is, the Atis used to dance and cover their faces in charcoal. Upon seeing this, the Spaniards tried to do away with the practice, failed, and instead converted the fiesta in honor of the Santo Nino. Highly implausible. First, the Atis have a modicum of festivities: None resembled the Ati-Atihan in spirit or form. Second, the saint patron of Kalibo is not the Santo Nino but John the Baptist. What, then, made Kalibo hold a special feast for the Santo Nino? The truth is found in the phrase: Hala Bira!

When the conquest began, the Moros had a higher degree of culture and technology than the other Philippine inhabitants. The Moslem Malays of Maguindanao, Sulu, Borneo and the Moluccas seasonally raided the Visayan Islands to capture men, women and children for the slave trade. The Spanish program of gathering the scattered population into compact towns made it easier for the Moros to catch slaves. The only way the settlements could survive was if they were fortified. Panay was fortified with a strong stockade in the harbor of Capiz. The Ati-Atihan had its beginnings in a cannoned fort named after the Santo Nino. Cannoning, then, was a hot and sooty affair. Cannoneers always came out sooted to the skin.

One day Moros were sighted and the cry went up: “There are Moros on the coast! The Christians to church!” Invoking their fort patron saint, the Santo Nino (Viva Santo Nino!), the Capiz cannoneers unleashed their thunder. Upon victory, the battle-weary and victorious cannoneers emerged, black as Atis. In the ensuing celebration, many sooted their faces and bodies to identify themselves with the courageous cannoneers. The Ati-Atihan is an extension of that moment and to this day, the cry of the Ati-Atihan is “Hala Bira!” - to strike a blow.

The Philippines may not have a Mardi Gras tradition; what we do have is the Ati-Atihan. The Ati-Atihan is the Filipino at his most uninhibited and joyous. And that is the true essence of the Ati-Atihan - celebration.

The Ati-Atihan is an audience-participation festivity. And no one remains a spectator long. You don’t see an Ati-Atihan; you experience it; you are part of it. You feel as if you had fallen into a rabbit hole or walked through the looking glass. It is a surrealistic spectacle. The moving force of the festivity is the unleashed imagination of each and every participant. The Ati-Atihan is the Mad Hatter’s homage to the Santo Niño.