Kasadyahan

The Kasadyahan Festival is a cultural festival that is part of the larger Dinagyang Festival held annually on the fourth Saturday of January in Iloilo City, Philippines. It precedes the main highlight of Dinagyang, the Ati Tribes Competition, which takes place the following day on Sunday. It is a competition among cultural festivals from different cities and towns in the Western Visayas region.

Etymology
The word Kasadyahan is derived from the Hiligaynon word sadya, which means joy, merriment, or happiness.

History
The Kasadyahan Festival was first celebrated on January 26, 1968. It became part of the Dinagyang Festival in the 1980s to showcase the talents of the students as well as the rich cultural heritage of the province of Iloilo. In the first few years of this event, schools from various towns and cities in the province participated in this competition, but in recent times, the cultural competition confined only to the province has become a regional event, accepting entries from other provinces of the region, showcasing the best of Western Visayas cultural and historical heritage.

In 2010, there was a proposal to separate the Kasadyahan from the Dinagyang Festival, but it was never finalized. The proposal came up again in July 2019 when the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI) announced that, starting in 2020, Kasadyahan would no longer be part of Dinagyang. Instead, they brought in the "sadsad," a merry-making tradition from the Ati-Atihan Festival of Kalibo, Aklan. Considerations were made for the celebration of the Kasadyahan Festival in a separate month or possibly incorporated into the celebration of Iloilo City's Charter Day. However, these plans got canceled due to the pandemic.

Subsequently, in 2023, the festival returned as Kasadyahan Regional Cultural Competition into the Dinagyang Festival schedule, taking place on the Saturday preceding the main events of the mardi gras celebration or the Ati Tribes competition on Sunday.

For the first time in Dinagyang 2024, the Iloilo provincial government was hosting the 2024 edition of Kasadyahan, which showcased different competing festivals in the province.

Competition
The Kasadyahan Festival officially begins during its Opening Salvo on the first Friday of January. This marks the introduction to the main event of competition, where participating festivals from various parts of the region provide a sneak peek of their performances.

Kasadyahan is mainly divided into two segments for cultural street dance performances: the competing groups and the guest performers or non-competing groups, featuring entries from different parts of Western Visayas. The winning group from each festival is designated as the official entry to the Kasadyahan event.

Participating festivals showcase their dance skills, narrating stories related to their local culture. The lineup includes well-known festivals like Ati-Atihan of Kalibo, Aklan, MassKara of Bacolod, and Manggahan of Guimaras, as well as lesser-known but equally captivating celebrations such as Kasag of Banate, Iloilo, Pinta Flores of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, and Sugilanon of Roxas City, Capiz. Entries from festivals in other parts of the country, particularly in Hiligaynon-speaking provinces in the Soccsksargen region in Mindanao, are also accepted, such as Talakudong of Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, and Hinugyaw of Koronadal, South Cotabato.