Hadang Festival 2026

What hadang means

Hadang is an older Visayan ritual of making offerings to spirits. In Calbayog it has long been associated with seeking protection, healing, good fortune, a good harvest or safe passage.

It was not reconstructed for a festival. The city says hadang is still performed here in several contexts: before cutting trees or building on land, at fishing grounds, and in rituals seeking protection or addressing spiritual concerns. That is what sits under the costumes and the choreography.

Why the name changed

The celebration was known for years as the Sarakiki-Hadang Festival. Sarakiki describes the frenzied movements of a rooster, particularly when it courts a hen or challenges another rooster, and that image gave the dancing its character.

On 1 September 2025 the city approved Ordinance No. 2025-27-658, declaring Hadang Festival the city's official festival and ending official use of the older name. The city government said the change was meant to protect the authenticity of the rituals and traditions behind the festival, and to keep it close to its historical and cultural roots.

Sarakiki has not disappeared from Calbayog's history. The rooster imagery, the movement and the music are part of how the festival developed. What the ordinance settles is which of the two names carries the festival's official identity: Sarakiki-Hadang is the former name, Hadang is the current one.

A competitive dance tradition

Calbayog's Hadang contingent has become prominent at Samar's Tandaya Festival of Festivals. It won on its first appearance in 2023, won again in 2024, and in 2025 was declared co-champion alongside Catbalogan's Manaragat Festival, giving it a third consecutive championship.

The performances are known for rhythmic storytelling, synchronised movement, music, costume and cultural symbolism, with the choreography drawn from Calbayog's own history and traditions.

A week, not an afternoon

The festival runs as a week-long celebration around the fiesta on 8 September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Recent years have carried street dancing, cultural performances, music, art exhibitions, competitions, concerts, parades and fireworks. This year's programme is below.