The Drums Hit You First
You hear the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival before you see it. A low, insistent drumbeat rolls down Magsaysay Boulevard around mid-morning, and then bodies start appearing — covered head to ankle in black geometric patterns, moving in a way that sits somewhere between dance and controlled aggression. It takes a second to process that these aren’t tattoos. They’re painted on, meticulously, starting before dawn.
The festival runs four days in late June each year in Tacloban City, the capital of Leyte province in the Eastern Visayas. The 2026 edition is scheduled for June 26 to 29. It merges two older celebrations — the Pintados Festival (honoring the tattooed warriors of pre-colonial Visayan society) and the Kasadyaan Festival (a broader showcase of Leyte’s cultural traditions) — into one event that’s become the region’s biggest annual gathering.
Two Festivals in One
The dual name isn’t just branding. The Pintados and Kasadyaan components have distinct characters, and understanding the difference helps you plan which days to prioritize.
The Kasadyaan portion focuses on barangay-level performances. Each contingent represents a different community from across Leyte, performing dances rooted in local traditions — fishing rituals from coastal towns, harvest celebrations from the interior, that sort of thing. The choreography tends to be more varied and sometimes more playful than the Pintados segments. This usually happens on the second day, though the exact schedule shifts year to year (check closer to June for the 2026 lineup).
The Pintados Grand Parade is the centerpiece, and the part most people come for. Performers cover their bodies in painted designs replicating the tattoos described in early Spanish colonial accounts of the Visayan people. The Spanish called them ‘Pintados’ — literally ‘the painted ones’ — partly out of fascination, partly as a way of categorizing people they didn’t understand. The festival reclaims that label. Dancers move through the streets performing warrior choreography, accompanied by drums and chanting that can get genuinely loud. It’s one of those events where the crowd noise and the performance kind of merge into a single thing.
What Actually Happens Each Day
The four-day schedule roughly follows this pattern, though details change annually:
Day 1 opens with ceremonies — torch lighting, speeches from local officials, cultural presentations. Honestly, unless you’re particularly interested in the ceremonial side, this day is skippable for most visitors. The atmosphere is building but the big performances haven’t started.
Day 2 is the Kasadyaan parade. Worth watching if you want to see the breadth of Leyte’s regional traditions. The contingents compete against each other, which adds an edge.
Day 3 is the Pintados Grand Parade — the main event. This is when the body-painted performers come out in full force. Get there early.
Day 4 typically features closing events, trade fairs, and food festivals. The energy is more relaxed. Good day to explore Tacloban itself.
The Food Situation
Street food takes over during festival week. Two things to look for specifically: moron, which is a sticky rice roll wrapped in banana leaves (sometimes with chocolate inside, sometimes plain), and binagol, a dense coconut-and-taro sweet wrapped in coconut shell. Both are Leyte specialties that are harder to find elsewhere in the Philippines.
Beyond the local stuff, the trade fair area usually has vendors from across the Visayas selling dried fish, kakanin (rice cakes in various forms), and whatever seasonal fruit is available. June means mangoes, so there’s that.
Fair warning — food stall hygiene varies. The busier stalls are generally safer bets since turnover is higher. Bring water. Tacloban in June is genuinely hot, and dehydration sneaks up on you faster than you’d expect.
Getting to Tacloban
Tacloban’s Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC) handles domestic flights from Manila and Cebu. Several budget carriers operate these routes — fares fluctuate a lot depending on how far in advance you book. You can compare options on KIWI.COM to get a sense of what’s available, though for Philippine domestic flights, booking directly with the airline sometimes gives better prices. Worth checking both.
From the airport to the city center is about 15 minutes by tricycle or van. No Grab service last I checked, but that might have changed — the app is expanding to more Philippine cities. Ask at the airport.
If you’re coming from elsewhere in the Visayas, there are also ferry and bus options. The ferry terminal at the port area connects to destinations across the region, and if you’re planning a broader Philippines trip, Trip.com can help sort out multi-leg itineraries.
Where to Sleep (Book Early, Seriously)
Tacloban is not a large city, and its hotel inventory is limited even on normal weeks. During festival time, the decent places fill up fast. Magsaysay Boulevard is where the parade happens, so staying nearby saves you transport hassle but comes with noise — drumming practice starts early.
Check Agoda for guesthouses and hotels along the parade route. There are a handful of mid-range options and several budget guesthouses. Don’t expect resort-level amenities — Tacloban’s accommodation scene is functional rather than fancy. Some travelers stay in Palo (about 20 minutes south) where there are a few more options, but you’ll need to arrange transport back and forth.
One thing worth noting: Tacloban was heavily damaged by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013 and has been rebuilding since. Much of the infrastructure is newer than you’d expect for a city this size.
Surviving the Heat and Crowds
June in Leyte is hot and humid — consistently above 30°C with high humidity. The parade route offers almost no shade. Practical survival kit:
- Lightweight, breathable clothing (cotton, not synthetic)
- Sunscreen and a hat, or you will regret it by noon
- A refillable water bottle — there are filling stations around the festival area, though lines can get long
- A waterproof bag or pouch for your phone and wallet. Some of the street celebrations involve water throwing, and even if you avoid those, sweat will get to your electronics
Crowds during the Grand Parade can get dense, especially around the Tacloban City Convention Center where the main performances converge. If you want a decent viewing spot, arrive at least an hour early. Later in the afternoon, things thin out somewhat.
Phone signal during peak parade hours can be unreliable. Don’t count on mobile data for navigation or communication during the main events.
What It Means — Without the Speech
The colonial backstory is straightforward: Spanish explorers encountered Visayan people whose bodies were covered in elaborate tattoos and called them ‘Pintados.’ The tattoos weren’t decorative — they were markers of status, bravery, and community belonging. The practice was systematically discouraged under colonial rule and eventually died out.
The festival isn’t a perfect reconstruction of that lost tradition. Nobody’s getting actual tattoos as part of the event. What happens instead is painted re-interpretation — performers spend hours getting designs applied that reference historical tattoo patterns, then perform dances drawn from what’s known (and what’s imagined) about pre-colonial warrior culture. It’s part historical commemoration, part creative expression, part civic pride.
Whether that counts as ‘authentic’ is a question I’m not going to try to answer. The performers clearly take it seriously. The older residents I’ve read about in coverage of previous years seem genuinely moved by it. That probably matters more than academic debates about cultural reconstruction.
For visitors looking for something beyond the usual Philippine beach circuit, the Pintados-Kasadyaan is worth the detour. Leyte doesn’t get much tourism compared to Boracay or Palawan, and the festival is one of the few times it’s actively on the radar.
The last night of the festival usually ends with the streets still sticky from spilled drinks and the remnants of body paint smeared on everything. By the next morning, the vendors are already packing up, and Magsaysay Boulevard goes back to being a regular road. There’s a cleanup crew out there with brooms before most visitors are awake.