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PHILIPPINES
Opening Hours
& Festivals
Most government offices are open Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.30pm.
Businesses generally keep the same hours, with some also open for
half a day on Saturday from 9am until noon. Post offices in major
cities are open Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm. Off the beaten track the
hours are less regular. Banks open Monday to Friday 9am-3pm, while
shops in major shopping centres are open 10am-8pm.
Festivals
Every year, hundreds of fiestas are celebrated in the Philippines
and it's well worth timing your journey to see one of the major
ones. It's at these festivals that you get a chance to see legendary
Filipino hospitality at its best. The beer flows, pigs are roasted
and there's dancing in the streets for days on end. More solemn
fiestas, usually religious in nature, are a mixture of devotion,
drama, passion and reaffirmation of faith. The crucifixions held
every Good Friday in Pampanga draw tourists who come to see penitents
being flogged then nailed to a cross. Other major festivals include
the Ati-Atihan every third week of January in Kalibo, the Flores
de Mayo held throughout May in honour of the Virgin Mary, and the
Lanzones festival every October in Camiguin celebrating the island's
favourite fruit.
Major festivals
Feast of the Black Nazarene, January 9, Quiapo,
Manila.
Sinulog, third Sunday of January, Cebu
City.
Ati-Atihan, third week of January, Kalibo,
Aklan province.
Moriones, Easter weekend, Marinduque.
Pahiyas, May 15, Lucban, Quezon.
Flores
de Mayo, throughout May, countrywide.
Carabao
Carroza (water buffalo races), May 3 and 4, Iloilo City,
Panay Island.
Carabao Festival, May 14 and
15, Pulilian, Bulacan Province and Angono
Kadayawan
sa Davao, third week of August, Davao City.
Peñafrancia
Fluvial Festival, third Saturday of Sept, Naga City, Camarines
Sur.
Lanzones festival, third week of October,
Lambajao, Camiguin.
Masskara, second week of
October for one week, Bacolod, Negros Occidental. |
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