Kadayawan, a Celebration of Bountiful Harvest

Over the weekend, our beloved City of Davao celebrated the Kadayawan Festival. It is the celebration of thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest and abundance of flora and fauna our City has been blessed over the years. I am very proud and lucky that I lived here despite being tagged as "probinsya" (Province) by other developed cities in the country. Being tagged by it connotes a negative meaning and makes one a slow-paced region. But truly, I have experienced both worlds here in our humble yet abundant city amidst 'other' putting it down . I can experience a laid-back atmosphere if I want to distress, unwind and relax my spirit and mind. And immediately, if I wanna have a good and fun adventure, I can still do that. If I wanna shop for most coveted material things I can have it here too! Most of all, if I want to have good, excellent and affordable food, great company, secure and safe place, this is the place you would want to be in.

My hubby has a tribal blood. His ethnicity is Bagobo. He has 50% of it. He told me the story about Kadayawan. It originated way back in the 70's and was originally ApoDuWaling Festival. It means Mt. Apo (tallest volcano in the Philippines), Durian (popular fruit) and Waling-Waling (a rare kind of flora, an orchid which we are known to have). These 3 paved way to abundance in our land because of richness and the culture we have. And because of the various tribal ethnicities, its beliefs and culture, the abundance of the flora and fauna in our region remains to be the best of the country and the world. Davao is known to be and still up to know the Land of Promise. It is the fruit basket of the country and I say we are rich of everything of natural resources and a promise of a future to the next generation.

Recently, Davao City is ranked as the 4th safest city in the whole world. That's something to be proud of. With all the developments here and there, we are in competitive enough yet we still preserve the richness and bounty our Davao ancestors started. Long live Davaoeños! Congratulations for it's successful celebration amidst bomb scare and threats. It's a successful, commendable celebration.