We Filipinos, value and love our festivals so much. Traditionally, Filipinos give time for a joyful celebration of Fiestas or festivals annually, where local or foreign tourists are welcome to join the celebration.

Christmas is fast approaching! And our hometown is one of the best places to be visited during Christmas.

Iwag Festival

I live in Pototan, a province located in the 'City of Love', Iloilo City, Philippines.

We have our own festival to be celebrated annually called The Iwag Festival.

Why is it called Iwag Festival?

Originally, Iwag is an Ilonggos term for Lights, so this festival is also called as The Festival of Lights.

Pototan this time isn't just known as Iloilo's rice granary moreover also known as the 'Christmas Capital' of the Visayas.

How it was celebrated?

The whole expansive plaza of Pototan is transformed into a Christmas village that lighted up every night. To conserve the original Filipino or Pinoy style, lots of 'tiangges' or kiosks and numerous delicious Filipino street foods are can be found everywhere in the vicinity.

The festival is celebrated on the 16th of December until the 2nd of January.

I'll share some of my captured photos of how our plaza looks like during the festival last year, from November to December 2019.

That's our municipal hall. I captured this photo in the dusk. It is during the month of November.

Our plaza has wide green areas, covered with carabao grass.

This area is perfect for family picnics and for the children to freely play in a wider space.

When the month of December comes, this wide green areas will be full of Christmas decors such as Christmas trees, and various Christmas figures perfect for picture taking.

This is an inflatable playground for children. This festival is very inviting, and even the kids will certainly enjoy themselves during this celebration.

Our Plaza at night during the month of December

The place is filled with the spirit of Christmas during nighttime.

See how this road (see photo above) turns into a galaxy.

The road was covered with shimmering lights, which makes it to be called as the galaxy by the local residents.

You are free to capture your photos under the galaxy.

This area with fountains is what we called 'the lagoon'.

The lagoon turned into a magical pond where it was filled with lights and decorative dolphins, making it more beautiful.

There's a stage in front of the lagoon in which night programs are held.

And one of my favorite spots during this time is the Church.

You can see how people value the importance of this season. I captured this photo during the first night of 'Simbang Gabi'

Simbang Gabi is a devotional nine-day series of Masses practiced by Filipino Catholics in anticipation of Christmas.

Please excuse my photographs, all the photos were taken last year and I'm using my cheap budget phone at that time.

Ber months have already started, and Christmas is approaching but it seems we cannot celebrate our festival this year due to Covid-19.

Somehow, it is good to look back at this kind of moment.

I hope you enjoy a glimpse of our festival.

Please share some comments in the comment section below. I'd love to hear from you.

@eommaZel ✍🏻