Kahimunan Festival: a ritual of gathering

Posted on:  |  National Museum of the Philippines

Last year, the #NationalMuseumPH featured the Santo Niño festivals in the Visayas —Ati-Atihan in Aklan, Sinulog in Cebu, and Dinagyang in Iloilo. This year, as we celebrate the feast of Santo Niño this month, we explore the Kahimunan Festival in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte in northeastern Mindanao — a thanksgiving celebration in honor of the Child Jesus and a tribute to the indigenous practices in the region.

The annual Kahimunan Festival was founded in 1987 by Father Juanito Belino, the first parish priest of Santo Niño Parish in Barangay Libertad, Butuan City, where a Santo Niño Diocesan Shrine is also located. This week-long event is held every 3rd week of January and has since been widely attended by devotees and tourists alike. 

While the festival is highly associated with the Santo Niño, its underlying indigenous root is indicative of the etymology of “kahimunan,” a Manobo term meaning ‘to gather.’ It also refers to the series of rituals performed at the start of planting season among the lumadnon of Agusan, and is also referred to as the full moon festival. The ritual is composed of chanting, singing and playing indigenous musical instruments including gimbor (drums), gong, and bamboo percussions such as kalatong/karatong and kotik. Grace Nono, a renowned ethnomusicologist who hails from Agusan, accounts that Kahimunan also known as Kaamulan, is a yearly celebration among the Manobo, Higaonon and Banwaon groups of Agusan del Sur, and music is a vital component of it.

Kahimunan Festival exemplifies an amalgamation of the influence of the Catholic practice and the indigenous ritual, similar to the many celebrated festivals in the Philippines. The annual street dancing competition participated in by several groups from different parts of northeastern Mindanao is one of the highlights of the event. Participants clad in vibrant clothing and accessories, accented with baskets and arrows among others, and dance along the streets of Libertad down to the City Sports Complex. The images of Santo Niño held by some participants is also a common sight.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about 400,000 visitors from different parts of the country joined the religious festivities last January 2019. With the threat of the Covid-19, the majority of the activities were suspended last year including street dancing. Nevertheless, daily novena masses were held at the Santo Niño Shrine under limited capacity to enter the shrine.

The Lumad gallery located on the third floor of the National Museum of Anthropology displays some of the traditional musical instruments of different Lumad groups in Mindanao. Follow the #NationalMuseumPH and discover more about the Philippines’ array of festivities.

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Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photo from Mr. Michael S. Licup

© The National Museum of the Philippines (2022)