What is there to celebrate in the Kadayawan Festival?

An excerpt of the homily of the Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles, D.D., during the Holy Mass on the occasion of the opening of the 35th Kadayawan sa Davao, in San Pedro Cathedral, August 10, 2020. (Part 1 of 2)

Now with the Mayor present and many of you serving in the Government of the City of Davao, brothers and sisters we may ask what is there to celebrate in the Kadayawan Festival? We still keep that name today. What is there to celebrate? I think God is allowing us this difficult time to celebrate very well and to be able in this difficult situation to go right to the core of what is Kadayawan?

Of course the introduction said fruits, dances, we enjoy them. Absolutely true! This is maybe, we hope, the only Kadayawan like this — no parades, no “kalingawan”. I remember dear Mayor we used to say Mass in the beautiful, well prepared place in the Magsaysay park, none of that. But what is this prayer, what is Kadayawan? And I believe yes! Truly we are still able to celebrate Kadayawan today 2020 in the midst of this pandemic. No display of fruits, no parades, no visitors, no tourists, but we are able as Dabawenyos to say Life is here, we are still celebrating Kadayawan. In what sense?

Let me propose to you humbly this thoughts, that Kadayawan we all know comes from the root word “good”. You know very well, I think you wouldn’t contradict me. That one of the main weapons we have aside from medicine and frontliners in the hospital in this pandemic, the great resource that we have in this pandemic is the goodness of our hearts. It does not need money. The goodness in our hearts, that good that comes from the Lord, that good that He has implanted in our hearts, that in the midst of death and danger we are not afraid to die like wheat planted on the ground in the gospel today.

Imagine, if we harness that good, simple good in our hearts, simple Dabawenyo’s spirit of goodness in our hearts that everyone does not need a reminder to wear face masks, what a power tool is that? Self-regulate as our mayor would say, imagine in that basic goodness, aware that it is the good for everyone, dili mag-gawas gawas kung dili kinahanglan without any eyes looking at us, social distancing, basic hygiene. Goodness. To think of the good for a community, kada kasingkasing sa usa ka Dabawenyo I would like to believe my Kadayawan to do that, and that is very powerful. But to do that — to have face mask, to be doing things, to follow discipline — I have to admit it is a kind of dying, we can’t just do what we like, we are constrained. You lose yourself but also you lose yourself, you forget yourself, die unto oneself for the good of others.