ABBIE D. PATRICIO
Description: ✨THE GOLDEN SALAKOT INSPIRED COSTUME ✨
A 13th-century (c.1200 A.D.) event explains the origins of the festival. A group of 10 Malay chieftains called Datus, fleeing from the island of Borneo settled in the Philippines, and were granted settlement by the Ati people, the tribes of Panay Island. Datu Puti, Makatunaw's chief minister made a trade with the natives and bought the plains for a golden salakot, brass basins, and bales of cloth. For the wife of the Ati chieftain, they gave a very long necklace. Feasting and festivities followed soon after.
Sometime later, the Ati people were struggling with famine as the result of a bad harvest. They were forced to descend from their mountain village into the settlement below, to seek the generosity of the people who now lived there. The Datus obliged and gave them food. In return, the Ati danced and sang for them, grateful for the gifts they had been given.
The mission was originally a pagan festival from this tribe practicing Animism, and their worshiping their anito God. Spanish missionaries gradually added a Christian meaning. Today, the Ati-Atihan is celebrated as a religious festival.
This National Costume is handmade and every bead is sewed one-by-one. The materials are purely indigenous materials that also aim to bring back our rich culture.
Designer: Joeriz Quinesio
Hair and Make-up: Jordan Zacarias