I knew about Ati-Atihan festival much before I came to the Philippines, I saw images of it numerous times, they always fascinated me. When I realized that I was in the country at the time that the festival would be held, in its’ original location Kalibo, I decided to try my best to make it to Kalibo to shoot this colorful and dramatic event.
A few motorcycle and boats rides from Tacloban, (the city where I was arranging my further travels and my bike) I got to Kalibo, just a day before the main parade of the festival began. It was a spectacle to behold.
I won’t get into why the festival is celebrated, you can Google that, what I will say is that it’s loud, really loud. It’s also colorful, full of energy and zest. However, I will also say that if you aren’t photographing it or aren’t drunk out of your mind, you’d have to be pretty masochistic to spend more than an hour or two anywhere near the parades. I still had ringing in my ears from the drumming and the cymbals a couple of days later.
And so, here’s a small collection I’ve managed to put together. Remember, click on any image to see it large or click one and scroll through all of them with the next button or the arrow keys on your keypad.
The morning of the main parade starts with a crowd of devotees flocking to church, all with their Santo Niño dolls.
Before sunrise the devotees light candles just outside the church and proceed inside for a special mass.
Children looking at the myriad of lit candles with the church behind them.
I got a chance to shoot some participants getting ready for the parade. While the actual preparations were a little less visually interesting than I expected, I did get a chance to "grab" this image on the way out of the house where the dancers were preparing.
The parade starts around 7 am. Performers, black, covered in soot will continue until around noon.
There were a few groups that I followed and kept shooting throughout the parade. This was one of them, I guess I couldn't resist the cuteness/ferociousness of the "little tigers". They kept marched to the music, occasionally stopping, wiggling their butts and shaking their "swords" with very serious expressions on their faces,
By late morning of the first day it started to get real hot and this showed on the faces of the participants and in their body language.
I shot a few images from around hip level. This is one of them. I liked this group's costumes and the look of joy on the young man's face.
Every now and then the procession would slow down and one of the people at the front of the group would shout out "Viva kay Santo Niño!", which probably translates to something like "Long live the holy child!". The other group members would repeat the phrase in a single voice and would throw their arms up into the air.
On the second day of the main parade the crowd really swelled. It seemed that every other moment someone would jump into my shot, so I eventually decided to shoot the crowd itself. A lot of people wanted photos of themselves with the performers. Some of those characters were quite hilarious. The most hilarious of all though was when some middle-aged woman would come up to a group, pull a random child aside and would pose with him/her (by then horrified).
I find the disregard to political correctness in the Philippines pretty fascinating. Here a lady-boy with a Santo Niño doll poses just outside of a Catholic church, and everyone is happy as can be posing with him. I wonder what the Pope would say about that one. I think this is a great example of the level of tolerance and acceptance that Filipinos have towards each other's differences.
The festival (in some strange way) celebrates baby Jesus and almost every devout Catholic walks around with the Santo Niño doll, as if they are taking the doll to get some fresh air or something along those lines. Tanya and I found such scenes absurd, hilarious and really endearing all at once. The devotees dress up their Santo Niños in various outfits. Here a woman has come to buy a new costumes for her doll.
Santo Niño dressed up in the outfit of the parade participants.
I played around and shot a few pan images. This one is of a really tough grandmother, she just kept going and going. I guess her level of devotion and enthusiasm was very high.
It's not all bright colours and joy at Ati Atihan festival/parade. The town's homeless appeared as if they felt quite left out from all the fun. Though some did attempt a dance move or two, they mostly sat around the corner of a park asking for money or walked up to the richer looking spectators (that includes foreigners) doing the same.
If you have a long lens, portraits are a little easier to shoot than action shots and I shot a fair few of these. While I usually avoid shots of smiling kiddies (I find most of them fairly banal, clichéd, cheesy, boring) I couldn't resist this little girl with her toothless smile.
Ok, that’s all for this post. I leave you with a few more portraits from Ati-Atihan in Kalibo.
Great shots, Mitchell! Can you hear me…? Mitchell?
Mitchell, beautiful images as usual. It seems they convey a quietness of spirit or person even within all the noise that you talk about. Thank you for sharing them.
awesome photos. I am really enjoying following your blog
Wonderful and impressive photos!
Beautiful collection of pictures about the festival Mitchell. I like the pictures as they are captured from a different perspective, that of a foreigner. They are differ from the way a local photographer will capture the festival. I guess cultural background has a way of shaping the images taken. Thanks for sharing the images you made of one of the festivals in my country.
Thanks ppl.
Konie: Yeh, I am very aware that my view is different, though I could have in fact tried to replicate what other, some great Filipino photographers have done, I made a conscious choice to steer away from the typical images that I had seen. I’m glad that you enjoyed them.
With such a visual overload, shooting events like these must be quite challenging (ie. in terms of framing your shots). Based on the selection of pictures you’re sharing I think you’ve done a great job of drawing the viewer into the crowd and isolating interesting subjects, with their expressions, their exotic outfits, and all the details. If I can ask, what lens or lenses did you have on this occasion (any zoom lens)? And did you use any flash (perhaps off camera) to assist you in dim light conditions?
Oh, yes, the obligatory lens question.
I actually meant to write about it. The closer portraits were taken with the 70-200 f2.8 – great for blurring everything that doesn’t matter. 
The crowd and wider scenes were shot with the 16-35 f2.8 and a couple of mid range and portraits were done with the 24-70 f2.8.
It was a real pain “juggling” these lenses. Thank God for my wife.
There’s a bigger version of Ati-Atihan being held in Iloilo City, Panay, Philippines, it’s called the Dinagyang Festival. It just 4-5 hours bus ride from Kalibo, being held every 4th Sunday of January or a week after Kalibo’s Ati-Atihan. It’s touted as the country’s best festival and top tourism event.
Beautiful images Mitchell! Thank you for sharing these with us. While I am from there, I have yet to see this celebration up close. And I’d like to be there one of these days especially with my kids. This is part of our culture that gives character and color (I think) which I would like for them to experience.
Ati-atihan is probably one of, if not, the oldest parade/festival being celebrated. The others being celebrated elsewhere are mostly copies of this one which have a charm of their own as well).
While I am not a Catholic, just to be there to witness the colors and energy poured into the whole event should be equally fascinating.
Great stuff Mitchell!! Looking forward to more!
What I find most poignant is the image of the ‘homeless’ watching the parade. They could be representatives of the ati ethnic minority whose ancestors may have been the very people the festival celebrate yet they are disenfranchised from the celebration itself.
Thanks for your comment. That’s exactly what I had in mind when taking the image. There is a good chance that they are from the Ati community and these were truly the poorest of the poor individuals around the festival.
On its own it the message might not be so clear but within the context of the essay its very powerful — in tattered, dirty, ill-fitting clothes, a child, an infant and their mother, the latter clutching a feeding bottle, are struggling to survive while colorfully dressed revelry in the streets before them. Great work, thats why I keep coming back for more.
Nice work Mitchell, as usual. I really like the close up portrait.
Great image;s sir,
“I find the disregard to political correctness in the Philippines pretty fascinating. Here a lady-boy with a Santo Niño doll poses just outside of a Catholic church, and everyone is happy as can be posing with him. I wonder what the Pope would say about that one. I think this is a great example of the level of tolerance and acceptance that Filipinos have towards each other’s differences.”
hahahhaha. i like it so much.:)
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“What I find most poignant is the image of the ‘homeless’ watching the parade. They could be representatives of the ati ethnic minority whose ancestors may have been the very people the festival celebrate yet they are disenfranchised from the celebration itself.”
Some of these Ati tribes were already given a place to live in Numancia, just a after the Kalibo bridge but then at some point of each year or sometimes more than a year, they leave their community and transfer to another location, could be within the province or to another province and migrate back after sometime.
Yes mimi, even in Boracay they have a community settlement, but it’s amazing really, some really just leave the place. i guess our ati brothers are just like that, and we just need to understand more. I mean I have always known Atis as a nomadic people. That’s why people see some just roaming around this month and then leave and be back a few months. It’s interesting. It’s like they are searching for something.
Thank You Mitchell for bringing that up! I don’t really know much about photography but i love this collection. Not blinding, but intimate.
The schedule for the celebration of Kalibo Ati-atihan this year is Jan. 14-15, 2012. I hope you’ll visit the place once more..
I really appreciated your blog.. I’ll keep on visiting your site for some update and article..
It’s January 15…its time for another Ati-atihan celebration and I’m not in my hometown. Thanks for this photos, i got the chance to reminisce things from the past. Your photos capture the heart and soul of Aklanon’s in their most festive mood. It might not be as “organized” as other new festivals in our country, but its definitely the Mother of all festivals in the Philippines. It’s charming, fun and definitely unique. Thanks for capturing Kalibo’s soul.
I’m from the Philippines, and I’ve never seen the Ati-Atihan. I enjoyed looking at your pictures and reading about the festival from your perspective. I was laughing while reading some of your captions. I was caught off-guard when I saw the picture of a poor family. These are lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing them!
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