ALIKARAW
Hilongos, Leyte a town of trees and green fields. Hilongos is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines.Hilongosnons, as we call ourselves, we are happy people. We are patient and are good at masking our real emotions in a good way. We like to have fun as a town. we have many events all throughout the year. Each generation see to it that they can host an event suitable for their age group. During the summer, we have summer class recitals for the kids, we have band sessions for the teens and we have classical dances for the not so young. Most of these events are held in our Hilongos Gym. But one specific event in town is participated by all. This is the Alikaraw Festival.
Alikaraw Festival is also one of the most interesting and highly entertaining special events in our area. This colorful festival never fails to amaze tourists and guests, particularly because it commemorates the ancient ritual of a local tribe in Leyte. At the same time, this event is a celebration of the rich natural resources of our place, which boasts of pristine forests and beautiful orchids. During the celebrations, Hilongosnons and other guests witness enjoyable dance presentations, as well as outstanding concerts that feature many talented homegrown singers. The Alikaraw festival was a way to show others how creative and wonderful Hilongos and the people that live in it are. During the festival, we have a dance contest wherein different dance groups show Hilongos' rich history. These groups compete against each other and the one that won will be the town's representative in Kasadya-an Festival held in Tacloban City, Leyte.
Different dancers from different towns in Leyte who represent their own festival gather and compete against each other in the Kasadya-an Festival. The representatives of Alikaraw Festival was a favorite. Our town, Hilongos won champion for a couple of times already. This paved way for a bigger opportunity and a bigger challenge. The Alikaraw Festival was then invited to join the Aliwan Festival, known as the Queen of all Festivals. This was held in Manila, Philippines. Different festivals around the Philippines are being represented. This made our town form a special group of dancers, the Alikaraw dancers to represent our very own Alikaraw Festival. Dancers who composed the said group were as young as 9 years and as old as 27 years old. The day of the festival came, and our town was indeed proud when our Alikaraw dancers bagged the 3rd place in the Aliwan Festival. This was a great achievement considering the other competitors were from very big and well known festivals..
Another festival we joined was the Sinulog Festival of Cebu City and we also bagged third. Here are some of the pictures taken throughout the journey... ^_^
