SAKAY-SAKAY FESTIVAL of Maasin City, Southern Leyte

As part of our #MuseumFromHome series highlighting the festivals related to the feast of the Santo Niño, your #NationalMuseumPH features the Sakay-Sakay Festival of Maasin City in Southern Leyte. The festival, held every 3rd Sunday of January, consists of a fluvial parade, street dancing competitions and other festive events. 

The celebration traces its origin to the Sinulog Festival commemorating the arrival of the Holy Child’s image to the Philippines when it was gifted by Ferdinand Magellan to Queen Juana, the wife of Rajah Humabon, in 1521. As the celebration of the feast of the Santo Niño spread across the Visayas region, Maasin City held their own version of “sinulog” through the Sakay-Sakay Festival. In the past, the street dancing activities were confined to the city center and culminated in the plaza before the celebration evolved to its current form. 

The Sakay-Sakay Festival now highlights a fluvial parade starting at the Maasin City port, where bancas and pump boats, garbed with colorful banners, flaglets and various images of the Santo Niño, compete against each other for the best decoration. Aboard these boats, dancers sway to drumbeats while carrying small images of the Holy Child. Other activities include the coastal decoration, face painting, and the street dancing competition highlighting an elegantly garbed ‘festival queen’ carrying the image of the Santo Niño during the performance.

With the onset of the pandemic, the local government has canceled the customary activities of the Sakay-Sakay Festival to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. As a safer alternative, they held the Sakay-Sakay Festival Throwback Photo Contest in 2021 as a way to keep the spirit of this important event alive among the Maasinhons. 

#SakaySakayFestival 

#MaasinCity 

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Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division 

Photo courtesy of the City Tourism Office of Maasin