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The Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival is a merry-making event in Tacloban City, Leyte. It starts on June 29, the feast day of Senor Santo Nino, and lasts for a whole month.

Pintados is the name of native warriors who were tattooed as marks of courage, either from fighting or from surviving its arduous process. While Kasadyaan means merriment and jollity in Visaya.

The higlights of the festival are Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals, Pintados Festival Ritual Dance Presentation and the “Pagrayha” Grand Parade. The festive dancers fill the streets of Tacloban City. They are painted from head to toe with designs that look like armor to resemble the tattooed warriors of old.

The festival showcases the rich and colorful cultural heritage and history of Leyte and Samar.

Father’s Day is a day of celebration of Dad. It is a day to not only honor your father, but all men who have acted as a father figure in your life - whether as Uncles, Grandfathers, or “Big Brothers.” In the Philippines, it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June.

Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington thought of the holiday in 1909 while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father’s Day observance to honor all fathers.

Father’s Day is usually celebrated by treating Dad to a tasty meal together with the family. It can be at home or at your father’s favorite restaurant. Express your love, appreciation and gratitude.

Flores de Mayo (Flowers of May), a month-long religious celebration in May is a big event for many towns.
Traditionally, it is a way to give thanks to God and to the Virgin Mary for the rains that begin to bless the land and cause the flowers to bloom. Churches are usually filled with flowers in the aisles and alter since people give them as thanksgiving offerings.

The central event of the festival is the Santacruzan (Festival of the Cross), a procession commemmorating St. Helena’s (moher of Constantine the Great) finding the “True Cross” in Jerusalem. It is preceded by a nine-day Novena in honor of the Holy Cross.

On the ninth day, usually on a weekend, the Santacruzan is held. Each of the lovely ladies, with their
handsome escorts, dress up in their best gowns and portray various religious characters in the story. The Reina Elena, accompanied by a little boy representing King Constantine, and the other sagalas walk under beautifully decorated arches.