The city of Kalibo is the capital of the province of Aklan, located in the northwestern part of the of Panay Island. The permanent population of the city is about 80 thousand people, but but every day it grows 2.5 times to 200,000 people due to workers from other towns in the province. It is through Kalibo that the main flow of tourists travelling to the island of Boracay, the mecca of beach holidays.
The peak of tourist activity is in January, when the city hosts the world-famous Ati-Ati festival, the "mother of Philippine festivals", which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world to partake in the an incredible celebration. The name of the city itself comes from the indigenous word "sangka or, meaning "one thousand", which is how many people attended the first Catholic mass held here. That mass was the prototype for the modern day of the modern Ati-Atihan festival.
It is believed that the celebration of Ati-Atihan began in 1212, when natives from the island of Borneo arrived on Panay Island to escape persecution by the regime of Sultan Makatunawa. The first festival was intended to seal a peace treaty between the two peoples of the island, the indigenous Aeta and the Malay arrivals, who had different cultures but were determined to live together. When the Spanish arrived in the area, the celebration took on a religious colouring. In 1750, the priest Andres de Aguirre converted 1,000 locals to Christianity in one day. To mark the event, drums were beaten to mark the event, drums were beaten throughout the province, echoing the spirit of the pre-existing Ati-Atihan.
Today, anyone who finds themselves in Kalibo during the festival can take part in colourful street processions, novenas and masses, as well as visit Kalibo Cathedral, which is more than 100 years old, to kneel before the image of the Saint Niño.
Young people also take part in the festivities, but in their own way - they do not give Ati-Atihan a religious meaning. Young men and women no longer paint their faces and bodies faces and bodies with soot, but instead wear grotesque masks and incredible costumes. Native robes from the 12th and 13th centuries are no longer in honour, either. they're increasingly wearing plain T-shirts instead.
And yet, religious belief and passion, enthusiasm and fun. historically and culturally inherent in the Ati-Atihan have been preserved and have not faded from the first festival in 1212 to the present day.
