Dinagyang Festival - Iloilo City: Respectful Representation or Cultural Appropriation

Dinagyang Festival. Photo by JVTaiza via Flickr (with permission) Dinagyang Festival 2025 is finally winding down, marking the end of three exhilarating days of celebration in Iloilo City, Philippines. Running from January 24 to 26, 2025, this vibrant festival, held on the fourth weekend of January, showcases the rich cultural heritage of the region. With events like the ILOmination and Parade of Lights, the Kasadyahan Festival, and the energetic Ati Tribe Competition, Dinagyang is a feast for the senses and a heartfelt homage to the island's his…

Pinoy Baiting

An image that is meant to represent "Pinoy Baiting" - image was generated with the assistance of Dall-E3.  Over several years, we have seen the popularity of so-called Pinoy-baiting videos. It may start innocently enough, in which certain social media influences would just happen to feature something Philippines-related in their videos and they would be surprised by the sudden surge in the number of views in their video. They would go back to their standard content type and would see that it would not perform as well as that one video so the…

Undas, Todos Los Santos, Tigkalalag, All Souls Day, Day of the Dead - a deeply rooted Filipino tradition

An infrared photograph of a memorial park in the Philippines. Flickr/Jep It's that time of the year again when Filipinos all over the country return to their hometowns to visit and pay respect to their departed family and friends. It is a day of remembrance, a day for visiting grave sites, laying down flowers, offering prayers, and lighting candles. In my childhood, my aunts and uncles on my father's side, being of Chinese ancestry, would also have the tradition of offering food and lighting incense on family altars at home.  This time of the ye…