The Binirayan festival ("Binirayan" literally means "where they sailed to")is an event celebrated in the province of Antique in the Philippines. The festival was conceived by Governor Evelio B. Javier, and first celebrated on January 11–13, 1974. In 1975, the festival was moved to April 25–27, but in the succeeding years was celebrated in December to coincide with the Christmas celebration in the province. In 1981, with the assumption of ook ahead with confidence to Antique tomorrow."[1]
Binirayan Festival's permanent theme is "Retracing our roots, Celebrating our greatness."[2]
The festival opens with a fluvial parade from the pantalan (port) to Malandog Beach in Hamtic, believed to be the original settlement of the Bornean datu. In Malandog is a historical marker commemorating this legendary event. There are beauty pageants, cultural shows, streetdancing, parades, and arts and crafts local products exhibits. In 2006, the Binirayan Foundation introduced the Komedya Antiqueña as a sub-festival to promote the komedya as traditional folk theater.
From Ati-ati to Malay-ati
The ati-ati, now popularly known as "ati-atihan" in Philippine fiestas, used to be one of the main events of the festival. Patterned after the famous ati-ati of Aklan, the Binirayan ati-ati is participated in by people of all walks of life painting their faces with black soot. A tribe competition is held among towns and barangays. The popular tribes during the first decade of the festival were Tribu Kamihanon (Bgy 8), Tribu Bukaka (Bgy 2), Tribu Karintukay Dagatnon (Marina) and Tribu Campan (Kampo-Pantalan). Tribu Kaunlaran (Bgy 3) of Comon under then tribe trainer and choreographer Herman Cortez became a regular winner, that they represented the province in 1981 in the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City as Tribu Binirayan. Tribu Binirayan emerged Champion, the first-ever non-Ilonggo tribe to win the competition. It also boosted the popularity of Binirayan Festival as a major festival in Region VI. In later years, however, the high cost of maintaining tribes, prevented many tribes join the ati-ati competition. In 2001, the Binirayan Executive Committee repackaged the competition as Malay-Ati competition to introduce the idea that the Malays and Ati are the ancestors of the Antiqueños. Current Malay-Ati performance show historical events, folk practices and lifestyles in Antique. The competition in April 2008 was a best of the best among festivals in the province.
