BAILES DE LUCES FESTIVAL

Photo from: https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1781512

Bailes de Luces or the Festival of Lights is a thanksgiving celebration of the townspeople for all the blessings they received during the year. It also serves as an expression of hope for the coming year to be prosperous.

The festival is also a relevant event in La Castellana as the culmination of the Christmas season. The annual festival celebration peaks on January 5 which is the town’s Charter Day. What’s unique about the festival is that it uses “luces” or lights as the main props. Different activities are held in the evening to showcase the participants’ coloful costumes. Read More: https://www.choosephilippines.com/do/festivals/3900/bailes-de-luces-festival-of-lights

Photo from: https://www.choosephilippines.com/do/festivals/3900/bailes-de-luces-festival-of-lights

The festival is known as the “Festival of Lights,” Bailes de Luces is a celebration of thanksgiving. It has been compared to the Rio De Janeiro Carnival of Brazil.

From its humble beginning in 2000, Bailes de Luces, Spanish for Dances of Lights, is now one of the most known festivals in the country. In 2012, it has conquered the national stage when it competed for the inter-town finals of ABS-CBN’s “It’s Showtime.”

For the people of La Castellana, the dances and transitions of lights also symbolize hope for them and a guide for the town in its aspiration for a better future. Also, the dances trace back the history of the festival, which was first popularized by using “sulo’ or fire torch as the main source of lights. Read More: http://bacolodnewsmedia.blogspot.com/2017/01/dinagsa-festival-2017-preparation.html

Photo from: http://cameraclubofnegros.com/photography/bailes-de-luces/

To cap off the year and gearing up for the new one, this unique town celebrates as a community. Let’s say it’s a festival. Festival of lights or “Bailes de Luces”, that is. It’s all fun when all 13 ‘barangays’, schools and the whole community get to be together as one. So yeah, events line up annually, specifically a street-dancing (on Dec 30) and a dance show (on January 5). But hey, it’s not just your ordinary dancing; it’s all done in the dark with only the lights on, glowing. So how was that? Cool, right? Just see some photos, in case you don’t know what am saying… Read More: https://www.wheninmanila.com/bailes-de-luces-festival-of-lights-in-la-castellana-negros-occidental-seeing-through-a-community-culture-celebration/