The story of the origin of the Ati-ati celebration in Ibajay goes back to about 350 years or so ago when Christianity was just then starting to flourish in the Philippines. The term "ati" refers to the "negritos" or "aetas", indigenous people who are, as recorded by historians, the country’s aborigines. They are believed to have immigrated some 30,000 years ago during the last glacial period, by land bridges. They are short and small, have black skinned, kinky hair. They are nomads who live among the mountains and hillsides of Panay.

In this narrative, the term "ati-ati" refers to a make-believe aeta and not the typical real aborigine.

The modern town of Ibajay is located along the northern coast of Panay island in central Philippines. It is the biggest and most populated town of Aklan province. Ibajay can be reached by air, sea or land. It is about 25 to 30 minutes east of the now popular tourist resort - Boracay Island.

Aklan province was formerly part of Capiz province. Sometime in 1957, Aklan had became a political division, independent of Capiz, and made the fourth province in the geographical island of Panay.

It should be noted however, that prior to 1811, the town was not at its current site. A series of events caused the town to move to its present location. This town grew along the western bank of the river that winds itself from the interior of Panay and out into the Sibuyan Sea to the north.

As we go back in time, several barangays or villages inward along both banks of the river, grew out of the needs of the inhabitants to reside where cultivable land, food and water were available.

Among these communities or barangays, the most flourishing was Bubuk-on. Bubuk-on was then the very first town site.

Typical to the lives of inhabitants in those days were the routine raising of crops and domesticated animals, although occasional hunting of wild game was not uncommon for subsistence. Fishing along the river was most common to folks living along the banks.

One late afternoon, a man from Pueokate, a sitio (suburb) of Bubuk-on, set out to fish along the river. On him was a circular net, a moderately sized rattan basket for the catch and of course, the handy and all-purpose talibong (long narrow machete-like cutting tool) in scabbard. Both the talibong and the basket were tied around his waist, with the talibong being hitched on his left side.

He knew this river by heart. He knew every contour of the ground and every concealed tree trunks or debris lying underneath the water. As usual, he went to his favorite spot. The flow of water was just ideal. Not so rough, for there has been no rain the passed few days. He was all alone.

After a brief preparation, he set the net over his shoulder, and finally cast his first throw. Moments later, after the net hit the water, he let it sunk for a moment and slowly pulled it towards him to check out for the catch. Nothing! With the net back on his shoulder, he was ready for the next cast. Aimlessly, he did. Again, - nothing, not even a single little bitty minnow. And again, he cast his net only to drag out of a piece of driftwood. He hurled the said piece of wood away downstream, and continued casting his net. Since then, every now and then, he caught that very same piece of driftwood despite being continuously discarded.

As darkness fell, he decided to quit, counted that day as one of those ill-fated days he have had. With the driftwood on hand that had caused him trouble and damaged to his net, he decided to bring it along with him. The said piece of wood seems to be of good quality and unusually weigh heavier, that he thought he could make use of it somehow.

And so the poor soul headed home with no catch.

Upon reaching home, he promptly tossed the piece of wood under the stove and went cleaned up himself.

In those days, stoves were made up of rectangular wooden boxes, about 30 inches by 48 inches by 6 inches high, with open top filled with fine sand or dirt covered with thick hardened ashes. In the middle of it usually were a couple of piles of rocks. Each pile consisted of three rocks positioned in triangular form, where the clay pot use in cooking is rested upon. Such wooden boxes were usually stilt supported by four wooden legs, raising the box off the floor waist-high. Underneath this, for convenience, folks kept a pile of firewood. It was here, where the man tossed the driftwood he took home.

No fresh fish that time for dinner, but sweet potatoes and boiled bananas (of plantain variety) and few pieces of dried fish caught days earlier, were just fine. To push it down, few gulps of tuba or coconut wine does it.

After some pleasantries with his family, they retired for the night.

A while later when everyone seemed to be asleep, the man was awakened by a gentle tapping or rubbing coming from the kitchen. Without getting up from his bed, he determined that it coming from the stove area. What could it be, he thought, that could make a sound like so in the kitchen....?! Wild boar perhaps, rubbing itself against the stilt of the house. That was not unusual. With that in mind, he just ignored it and tried to get back to sleep.

Time passed but the annoying sound persisted and this time it grew louder and took the man to the point where he can no longer stand it. He got up from bed. Carrying with him an oil night light, he went to the kitchen to investigate. He was astounded to see that the pile of wood under the stove was glowing, brighter than the light of his flickering oil lamp. A piece of burning firewood may probably have dropped down from the stove, so he thought! No, - it couldn't be, not a single ember was glowing on the stove itself .... Closer inspection revealed the glow was coming from the piece of wood he had brought home. He noticed an image in the center of the glow, as if the image was emitting some kind of aura. The image reminded him of a painting or a sketch he saw being displayed one time by a traveling peddler. He picked up the wood from the pile, placed it on top of the table and went back to sleep.

The man saved the extraordinary piece of wood. Days later, it found its place in the household. First and foremost, it replaced the old oil night light. Later the family noticed that while the "wood" was inside the house, no stray animals such as chickens, wild cats, rats, raccoons, etc. get into the house. With this noted, they found another use of the "wood".

In those days, or even today, staple-grain-drying such as rice and corn, or copra (coconut meat) were done by spreading and exposing the grains to the heat of the sun. In so doing our forebears used mats for this purpose. To avoid the mats from being flipped over by the wind, weights such as rocks were placed on every corner or evenly around the edges of the mat. Being heavy as it was, the "wood" was an excellent candidate for the job . . . and more. It also kept wild animals such as birds, chickens, pigs etc. away from the grains being dried. For nothing, neighbors borrowed it for the same purpose.

As days passed, neighbors noticed that the man's family seemed to be favored with good fortune in their undertakings. They harvested their crops in abundance, unusually better than anyone else in the community. Catching fish from his same fishing hole seemed to be easy for the man now. No one remember him coming home empty-handed since then.

The neighbors credited such good fortune to that “piece of wood”. News about the wood and the “etched” image reached the ears of town elders and the local parish priest. They were curious and later asked the man who found it, to have it displayed in the local church for the benefit of the entire town and for the town folks to "venerate", as suggested by the priest. The priest at the time had figured whose image they were seeing ... that of the "Holy Child". He later sent the wood to Cebu to formally have the image sculptured as “etched”, accordingly. Was later returned, fully transformed into a beautiful icon of Child Jesus.

Although Bubuk-on was far inland from the coast, Moro (Moor or Muslim - so named by Spaniards as group of people who invaded Spain in the 8th century) pirates often raided the place for any wealth they could get. People were being killed or sold for slavery back in Mindanao. In 1760, during the time of Capitan Basal Luis Cabutang, Bubuk-on was so badly torched, including the church, by the marauding Moros.

Twenty seven years later, upon the persistent attacks by the Moros, it was decided by the town leaders, led by Capitan Basal Juan Sabino in 1787 to moved the town or the site of local government to Maganhup, another flourishing barangay nearby. It was a wide and fertile field between the present day barangays of Naile and San Jose. No one knows what fate befell to the image, for a while. Seemed the town folks had forgotten all about it after the troubles they had had with the Moros for years and consequent to the move.

By some strange cycle of events, the image appeared at the poor man's hut one day, back in Bubuk-on. Upon learning the reappearance of the image, the same old priest once again came and asked the man for it, promising to have it in a very special place in the town's parish church. True to his words and with the help of the parishioners, the priest did build a very special altar for the Child in one corner of the church.

The consistent raiding of the town by the Moros, caused the town to be moved again, headed by Capitan Basal Josef Garcia to Adiango, another growing barangay further north between the present day Laguingbanwa and Agbago. The year was 1792.

In all those years, they noticed that every time just before or at the time the danger comes to town, the image disappeared only to reappear later back in Bubuk-on. Since this same incident happened again and again, the parish priest took a special interest in the case. He remembered what he read from the Scripture on the Book of Jonah, on how God showed His displeasure to the people of Nineveh.

One Sunday on his homily, he told a story to his congregation, the Story of Jonah, the disobedient prophet who attempted to run away from his divine commission, cast overboard the ship, swallowed by a great fish, rescued in marvelous manner and was sent on his way to Nineveh, the traditional enemy of Israel. To Jonah's surprise the wicked city listened to his message of doom and repented immediately. All, from the king to the lowliest subject, humbled themselves in sack clothe and ashes. Seeing their repentance, God did not carry out the punishment He had planned for them.

The priest suggested to the people to gave it a try, do what Nineveh did. The attacks of the Moros may be the punishments for them. After some deliberations, the town leaders and the whole town decided to do so. As to please Holy Child, they prayed and fasted, applied ashes on their faces in humility. In this manner, they rallied together to fetch the image from Bubuk-on. Carrying the image on their shoulders back to town, they shouted "Viva Sr. Sto. Nino!" or "Long live the Holy Child!" When they arrived at the town proper, they placed the image at a prominent place they had prepared on the church altar and for a while after that, the image did not disappear anymore.

Years passed by, and the town lived peacefully. No more Moros plundering the place. In 1811, the town was moved again northeast of Adiango to its present site, constructed a new church even closer to the seashore. (Remains of the floor which were made of lime and stones can still be seen today.) The town folks brought along with them the beloved image of the Holy Child.

Years later however, the disappearance of the image happened again, as it did in Maganhup and Adiango years ago, and its reappearance back in the prairie of what was then the thriving Bubuk-on. The town folks remembered then, that they had not venerated the image the past few years.

Led by town officials, they again prepared, blackened and dressed in rags themselves fetched the "Nino" - the Child, from Bubuk-on. From then on, they did so every year, carrying the Nino on their shoulders, as they shouted the "Viva Kay Sr. Sto. Nino!", boisterous beating drums, and the dancing on the streets as they procession around the town, from and to the church.

(It should be noted at this point, that when the town was in Bubuk-on, Maganhup and Adiango, the name "Ibajay" was already used. The word "Ibajay" probably connotes our present day word "banwa" or town, the center. Similarly the word "Ponda", was and is still being used by folks of neighboring villages or boroughs to call barangay Naisud, so as “Kasya” for barangay Naile.)

Thus, the annual enthronement of the image of the Holy Child in the parish church of Ibajay became permanent event as it is repeated year after year. The years that followed revealed how the Sto. Nino has helped the town. So many miracles has been attributed to the Nino. For example, during the many coastal attacks of the Moro pirates at the town, the defenders of the beach along Ibajay were always victorious. As observers had narrated, on such occasion when the pirate fleet was approaching the shore in the middle of the night, they could see the (image of the “child” surrounded with) brilliant light moving back and forth along the beach. For this reason, the marauders thought and feared that the town folks were waiting with all the tricks planned and ready to be used against them, while concealed in darkness. Hence, they aborted landing. This happened time and again until finally the Moros quit raiding the place.

News of such manifestation of supernatural power of the Holy Child image spread to the neighboring towns and provinces and soon afterwards many people came to Ibajay on a pilgrimage.

In commemoration of the event, an allege re-enactment of clashes between the marauding Moros and Christian natives, called the Sayaw is being featured during the annual celebration of the Sto. Nino fiesta. It is perform on the vespera or the eve of the fiesta - hand-to-hand clashes (estokada). The “Moro” pirates are dress in red, while Christian natives are dress in black, with splendent brass buttons. There are dialogues that take before and after the clashes. It started when the emissaries send by Moro captain to negotiate the surrendering of the Holy Child (icon) by the Christians, or else the Moros with inflict hostilities. The proposal is unacceptable to the natives who in lieu are willing to die defending the Holy Child. Upon hearing this from his emissaries, the Moro captain ordered the attack. A fierce battle followed that finally ended the defeat of the marauding group. The re-enactment ended when the Moro pirates submit themselves under the will of the Holy Child, pay homage, ask to be baptized.

And so they do at high noon when both the “Christians” and the “moros” and a mass of humanity bedeck in old rags and blacken faces shouting "Viva Sto. Nino!" escort the image as it is being moved from the convent to the church. The procession accompanied by the band until it enter the church where the image of Child Jesus is enthroned in a specially prepared platform for the offerings and masses the following day, the day of the festival.

The highest official of the town, (then called the "capital basal" later "gobernadorcillo", etc. and now) the mayor, usually headed the group who carried the satin awning over the image on the way to the church amidst the shouting, dancing and expression of jubilation for the presence of the Holy Child. At a particular instant when the image is enthroned in the altar, which is usually done with difficulty because of the jostling crowd, there is a brief moment of silence and contemplation, followed by joyous shouting of triumph, success, happiness.

Ibajaynons from all corners of the world, given the chance, will come back home to Ibajay for this occasion. This is our Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and Fourth of July all-in-one. This is the time when long lost relatives and friends see each other and be together again in merriment. The image one sees nowadays being transferred from the rectory to the church on the eve of the fiesta is the very same image the fisherman from Bubuk-on hundreds of years ago had fished out from the river. Father Jose Iturralde, then parish priest of Ibajay for seven years until the late 50's, had one time brought the image to Manila for face-lifting or retouchment.

Many believe that the image still show a sign of miracle. From the "Origin of and Story of Sayaw": ". . . . whether it is a miracle or just a coincidence, there were many a time during the past, that during the period of transfer (of the image of the Sto. Nino from the rectory to the church), rain threatening to fall in Ibajay geographical territory disappears and the skies become sunny . . . ."

Many shed tears on this occasion, perhaps joy, pain, relief, success or failure. Only the participant him/herself could tell. "Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh".

Initially, devotion to the Sto. Nino of Ibajay with the blackened faces of the people was basically an expression of the feeling of humility and remorse for one's sin and supplication to the Holy Child. However, joy and happiness come after the emotional inner struggle as the result of faith and enlightenment. Hence the people shout "Viva Senor Santo Nino!" with the gusto, to let it out.

Let us hope that the essence of this devotion to the Child and the ati-ati be preserved and perpetuated so that we can truly elevate our devotion to Him and in return He will grant our town of Ibajay, the blessings of peace and prosperity.