Smile Magazine’s Ati-Atihan Feature
The 3rd Kimpo International Reunion is near-synonymous with the rambunctious Ati-Atihan festival, which comes as no surprise — both events are held within a day or so of each other.
For those who are still unacquainted with Ati-Atihan, Cebu Pacific’s in-flight Smile magazine has a feature on the festival, written by Lester V. Ledesma. An excerpt:
The event’s trademark of soot-blackened, perpetually-smiling ati-ati ‘warriors’ embodying the Filipino penchant for happy times, is the classic emblem of the fiesta islands. With their outlandish tribal-inspired costumes, these street-dancing revelers have appeared in postcards and magazines throughout the world. They are so iconic that their look has been copied countless times in other fiestas throughout these islands, in places as far-off as Manila (located some 250km to the north), which has its own January Santo Niño festival, or as near as neighboring Iloilo (on the other side of Panay Island, where Kalibo is located), which celebrates a similar fiesta called the Dinagyang.