Sandugo Festival

In March 1565, according to the Spanish accounts, Miguel López de Legazpi and the Boholano chief Datu Sikatuna sealed an agreement by cutting their arms, mixing blood with wine and drinking it - a sandugo, one blood, the ritual by which alliances were made in the pre-colonial Visayas. It was among the first recorded formal contacts between Spaniards and Filipinos, and Bohol has taken it as the province's founding event, commemorated by the Blood Compact Shrine on the coast at Tagbilaran and by a July festival: street dancing, a re-enactment of the compact, a beauty pageant, agricultural and trade fairs and a beer garden that runs for a fortnight. How the compact was understood by each side, and what it meant subsequently for Bohol - which rose in the longest revolt against Spanish rule in the country's history - is a more complicated question than the festival's framing suggests, and worth reading about separately.

What you actually see

• The re-enactment - the blood compact staged at the shrine.
• The street dancing - contingents through Tagbilaran.
• The Blood Compact Shrine - the bronze tableau on the coast.
• The trade fairs - the province's produce and products.

When to go

July, with the main days usually in the second half of the month - confirm dates with the province. Accommodation in Tagbilaran fills for the peak days.

Honest expectations

The historical framing is celebratory and simplified; the Dagohoy revolt that followed is not part of the story the festival tells. Streets close and traffic in Tagbilaran is difficult during the main events.

Nearby

Panglao's beaches and Dauis Church are across the causeway; Loboc and the Chocolate Hills are inland.