Kadayawan Executive Committee Co-Chairperson Art Boncato (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY — On the second day of the week-long Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival celebration, a forum on the history of the celebration will be held Tuesday, August 16, at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Kadayawan Executive Committee vice chair Art Boncato said the forum dubbed “Kadayawan: Kasaysayan, Kinaadman, Padulngan” (Understanding the Roots of the Kadayawan Festival), “is an additional dimension to highlight the Lumads and Muslims in the City.”
“How it (Kadayawan) evolved to what it is today, who are the aboriginal players, why and what are the drama behind dances and rituals as represented by the street performances and how are we going to preserve the culture that despite the diversities, Dabawenyos co-exist in harmony,” Boncato said.
Dr. Macario D. Tiu, Director of AdDU University Publication Office will also speak on the topic “Davao: Garden of the Gods”.
“This year’s Kadayawan will not just be street dancing and floral float parade but also with academic dimension for Dabawenyos to appreciate what happened in the past, trace our identity as people of Davao,” said Macario D. Tiu of AdDU. “Kay ang nasod nga walay kasaysayan, walay padulngan (because a city with no history has no direction).”
Tiu, a Palanca awardee for his book “Davao: Reconstructing History from Text and Memory”, said he “hopes to inspire Dabawenyos to be particularly interested in Davao’s history sans the colonials’ perspective.”
The forum will also tackle the “Importance of Understanding Indigenous Cultures and Implications for Davao’s Cultural Resurgence” by Karl Gaspar, a homegrown writer and dean of the AdDU Academic Studies.
Meanwhile, Richard Vilar, a curator of Museo Dabawenyo, will speak on “Kadayawan: Kaniadto, Karon ug sa Umaabot” (Kadayawan: Yesterday, Today and in the Future) in the third session of the forum.
The forum will be held from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the 7th Floor, Finster Auditorium. (davaotoday.com)
