The Dinagyang Festival is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines, held annually on the 4th Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog in Cebu and the Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo, Aklan. It is one of the biggest festivals in the Philippines, attracting more than a million domestic and international visitors every year. The festival is the only one in the Philippines that has been awarded by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) as the best tourism event for three consecutive years in 2006, 2007, and 2008. It is also the most awarded festival in the country with both national and international awards because of its legacy, popularity, and innovation. Recently, it received another back-to-back ATOP's Best Tourism Event Awards in 2020 and 2021. Dinagyang receives multiple honors and is regarded as the "Queen of All Philippine Festivals." Etymology The word Dinagyang came from a Hiligaynon word extrapolated from dágyang, meaning “merrymaking.” The festival hosts a celebration of the Santo Niño (Holy Child or Infant Jesus) and the pact between the Datus and the locals after the arrival of Malay settlers and the legendary barter of Panay Island from the natives called Ati. History Dinagyang began after Rev. Fr. Ambrosio Galindez, the first Filipino Rector of the Augustinian Community and Parish Priest of the San Jose Parish introduced the devotion to Santo Niño in November 1967 after observing the Ati-Atihan Festival in the province of Aklan. On 1968, a replica of the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to Iloilo by Fr. Sulpicio Enderez. In the beginning, the observance of the feast was confined to the parish. The Confradia patterned the celebration on the Ati-atihan of Ibajay, Aklan, where natives dance in the streets, their bodies covered with soot and ashes, to simulate the Atis dancing to celebrate the sale of Panay. It was these tribal groups who were the prototype of the present festival. In 1977, the Marcos government ordered the various regions of the Philippines to come up with festivals or celebrations that could boost tourism and development. The City of Iloilo readily identified the Iloilo Ati-Atihan as its project. At the same time the local parish could no longer handle the growing challenges of the festival. Dinagyang was voted as the best tourism event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Association of Tourism Officers in the