Ati-Atihan Festival

Ati-Atihan takes over Kalibo in the third week of January, honouring the Santo Nino, and it is loud in a way that is hard to prepare for. Participants blacken their faces with soot in reference to the Ati, the islands' earliest inhabitants, and dress in costumes of feathers, shells and painted cloth. Groups move through the streets behind drum lines playing one insistent rhythm for hours, and the shout that answers it, Hala Bira, is heard from every block. Unlike more choreographed festivals elsewhere, outsiders are pulled into the line rather than kept behind a barrier, and the dancing continues in the streets long after the judged parade has finished.

What you actually see

• The drum lines - competing groups keeping one hammering rhythm for hours at a stretch.
• The soot-blackened dancers - costumes of feathers, shells and painted cloth, faces darkened.
• The open street dancing - visitors absorbed into the moving lines rather than watched from the kerb.
• The Santo Nino procession - the religious core of the week, quieter than the streets around it.

When to go

The third week of January, building through the week and peaking on the final weekend. Book flights and rooms in Kalibo months ahead, because the town is small and Boracay traffic already fills it. Mornings are calm and the streets only really start in the late morning; the last day runs longest.

Honest expectations

It is chaotic, extremely loud and drink-heavy by evening, and personal space does not exist in the crowd. Kalibo has limited accommodation and prices multiply during the festival. Pickpocketing in the crush is a real risk; carry nothing loose. January is dry but the heat in a packed street is punishing. If you want an orderly parade to photograph from a seat, this is the wrong festival.

Nearby

Boracay is under two hours away by road and boat; Aklan's piña weaving villages are close to Kalibo.