The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog In Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan. It is held both to honor the Santo Niño and to celebrate the arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the Atis.

DINAGYANG FESTIVAL: The frenzy, pomp and splendor of a religious-cultural feast to commemorate the arrival of Malay settlers, in Panay, retells the age-old lore and traditions of how the island was sold by the atis to these new settlers.

Cuing up from the Sinulog Festival of Cebu, and the Ati-Atihan of Aklan, this grand festival is held every fourth Sunday of January to honor the patron saint, Santo Niño.

The first and only festival in the world today to have gained the support from the United Nations on the promotion of its Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

History

Dinagyang began after Rev. Fr. Ambrosio Galindez of a local Roman Catholic parish introduced the devotion to Santo Niño in November 1967. In 1968, a replica of the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to Iloilo by Fr. Sulpicio Enderez as a gift to the Parish of San Jose. The faithful, led by members of Confradia del Santo Niño de Cebu, Iloilo Chapter, worked to give the image a fitting reception starting at the Iloilo Airport and parading down the streets of Iloilo.

In the beginning, the observance of the feast was confined to the parish. The Confradia patterned the celebration on the Ati-atihan of Ibajay, Aklan, where natives dance in the streets, their bodies covered with soot and ashes, to simulate the Atis dancing to celebrate the sale of Panay. It was these tribal groups who were the prototype of the present festival.

In 1977, the Marcos government ordered the various region

Iloilo City

The City of Iloilo (Filipino: Lungsod ng Iloilo, Hiligaynon: Syudad sang Iloilo or Dakbanwa sang Iloilo) is a major city and highly urbanized city in the Philippines and the capital city of Iloilo. It is the regional center of the Western Visayas as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area. In the 2007 census, Iloilo City had a population of 418,710 with a 1.8% population annual growth rate. It is bordered by the towns of Oton in the west, Pavia in the north, Leganes in the northeast and the Iloilo Strait in its eastern and southern coastline. The city was a conglomeration of former towns, which are now the geographical districts, composing of: Jaro, Molo, La Paz, Mandurriao, Villa Arevalo, and Iloilo City Proper. The district of Lapuz, a former part of La Paz, was declared a separate district in 2008.

The history of Iloilo City dates back to the Spanish colonial period, starting out as a small and incoherent grouping of fishermen's hamlets from the Iloilo River by a large swamp which after 1855 became the second most important port of call in the colony due to transhipment of sugar products from the neighboring Negros Island. It was later given the honorific title of "La Muy Noble Ciudad" (English: The Most Noble City) by the Queen Regent of Spain . At the turn of the 20th century, Iloilo City was second to the primate city of Manila, with stores along Calle Real selling luxury products from all over the world, an agricultural experimental station established at La Paz in 1888, a school of Arts and Trades which opened in 1891, and a telephone network system operating in 1894^.

In the coming of the Americans also in the turn of the 20th century, institutions like Central Philippine University (the first Baptist and 2nd private American university in Asia and in the country);Jaro Evangelical Church (the first Baptist church in the country); Iloilo Mission Hospital (the first Protestant hospital in the country); and the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (the oldest Baptist organizational body in the Philippines); where established.