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Costumed participant at the Ati-atihan Festival in Kalibo, Aklan on Panay Island, Philippines

The Ati-atihan, arguably considered to be the mother of all Philippine festivals, commemorates the coming together of the natives and the Spanish colonizers. Ati-atihan means to be like the Ati, the Aetas, who are basically the native people on Panay Island. Over the years, the festival has intermingled pagan and Christian traditions, honoring first and foremost, the Holy Infant Jesus, while devotees and participants dance in the streets (for days!) to the beat of constant drumming, in costumes like the Ati, praying one minute, and making merry (drinking, dancing and drumming) the next. It's a spectacle to behold.