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50 free Philippine Festivals trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Philippines runs on fiestas. Cebu's Sinulog drew more than five million people in 2026, Kalibo's Ati-Atihan calls itself the Mother of All Philippine Festivals, Bacolod dances in smiling masks, Lucban hangs rice wafers from its houses and San Fernando builds 15-foot Christmas lanterns. This quiz covers the great Santo Niño festivals of January, the flower, harvest and mask festivals of the provinces, Holy Week's Moriones, the Black Nazarene traslación, Flores de Mayo and the Santacruzan, Simbang Gabi and the world's longest Christmas season, plus the dates, dances, saints and origin stories behind each one. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has joined a fiesta, a third are medium and the rest are for culture buffs. Every answer is checked against reference pages on each festival.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city is the Sinulog Festival centered?
Cebu
It is the core of the country's Santo Niño celebrations and drew over 5.2 million people in 2026.
Q 02On which day is Sinulog held each year?
Third Sunday of January
Dinagyang in Iloilo follows a week later on the fourth Sunday.
Q 03The word Sinulog comes from a Cebuano word for what?
Water current
The forward-backward dance steps imitate the flow of a river.
Q 04Which religious image do Sinulog, Ati-Atihan and Dinagyang all honor?
The Santo Niño
The Child Jesus image in Cebu was reportedly left by Magellan's expedition in 1521.
Q 05Who discovered the Santo Niño image in a burning hut when Legazpi's expedition arrived in 1565?
Juan Camus
Augustinian friars built a church on the spot, now the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño.
Q 06In what year was the first Sinulog parade held?
1980
David Odilao organized it on January 20, 1980 as a true Cebuano festival to rival Dinagyang and Ati-Atihan.
Q 07Which baptized Cebu ruler's wife is shown in Sinulog dances holding the Santo Niño?
Juana
Hara Humamay was renamed Juana at her baptism in 1521, along with some 800 natives.
Q 08Sinulog street parties along the parade route were banned in which year?
2016
Rowdy partygoers along Mango Avenue had become a law-and-order problem.
Q 09Which town's Ati-Atihan is called the Mother of All Philippine Festivals?
Kalibo
It is the capital of Aklan on Panay and is believed to hold the country's oldest festival.
Q 10What does the name Ati-Atihan mean?
To imitate the Ati people
Dancers traditionally blackened their faces in tribute to the Ati who welcomed Malay settlers.
Q 11Ati-Atihan legend traces the festival to ten chieftains fleeing which island in 1212?
Borneo
The Ati granted the Malay datus settlement on Panay, an episode also told in the Maragtas epic.
Q 12What is the foot-dragging Ati-Atihan street dance and parade called?
Sadsad
The foot is momentarily dragged along the ground in time with the marching bands.
Q 13In which city is the Dinagyang Festival held on the fourth Sunday of January?
Iloilo
It draws one to two million people and was known as the Iloilo Ati-atihan until 1977.
Q 14Who coined the name Dinagyang in 1977?
Q 21What does the Kankanaey word Panagbenga mean?
Season of blooming
Curator Ike Picpican suggested the name after the first Baguio Flower Festival in 1996.
Q 22Panagbenga street dances draw on the Bendian, a celebration dance of which people?
Ibaloi
Male dancers wear the bahag loincloth and women floral costumes.
Q 23The Pahiyas Festival, where houses are decorated with produce, is held in which Quezon town?
Lucban
It falls on May 15 in honor of San Isidro Labrador, patron of farmers.
Q 24What is kiping, the colorful decoration that covers Pahiyas houses?
Broadcaster Pacifico Sudario
It comes from the Hiligaynon word dagyang, meaning merrymaking.
Q 15What is the signature contest of Dinagyang, with drummers in feathered Ati warrior costumes?
Ati Tribes Competition
Kasadyahan showcases other Western Visayas festivals and ILOmination is the lit-up night parade.
Q 16Which city's MassKara Festival earned it the nickname City of Smiles?
Bacolod
Highlights fall on the third Sunday of October.
Q 17Which artist coined the word MassKara from mass and the Spanish cara?
Ely Santiago
It is also a pun on maskara, the Filipino word for mask.
Q 18MassKara began in 1980 amid a price crash of which crop?
Sugar
High-fructose corn syrup had undercut Negros sugar, and the MV Don Juan sank that April.
Q 19Which 1980 tragedy struck Negrense families in the year the festival of smiles began?
The sinking of the MV Don Juan
The ferry collided with the tanker Tacloban City in Tablas Strait, with 18 dead and 115 missing.
Q 20The Panagbenga Festival fills which city with flower floats every February?
Baguio
It was created after the 1990 Luzon earthquake to help the city recover.
A rice-made wafer
After judging, the kiping can be eaten grilled or fried.
Q 25Davao's Kadayawan Festival was previously named after Mount Apo, durian and which orchid?
Waling-waling
The old name was Apo Duwaling; Mayor Rodrigo Duterte renamed it Kadayawan in 1988.
Q 26What is the street-dancing highlight of Davao's August festival called?
Indak-Indak sa Kadayawan
It showcases the indigenous cultures of Mindanao's tribes.
Q 27Masked Roman soldiers roam which island during the Holy Week Moriones Festival?
Marinduque
The masks are named after the 16th-century morion helmet.
Q 28Which one-eyed centurion are the Moriones searching for all week?
Longinus
Legend says Christ's blood restored his blind eye when he pierced Jesus's side.
Q 29Giant papier-mâché puppets mock old hacienda owners at which Rizal town's festival?
Angono
The higantes tradition dates to the late 1800s, when peasants were allowed just one fiesta a year.
Q 30The water-dousing basaan at the Higantes Festival honors which pope, martyred by drowning?
Clement I
He is the patron saint of fisherfolk.