The Sinukwan Festival relives the Kapampangan spirit with a week-long calendar of cultural revivals capped by a grand street-dance parade in the streets of San Fernando, with towns outdoing each other to the tune of “Atin Cu Pung Singsing.” Organized annually by the Save Pampanga Movement, the festival memorializes Aring Sinukwan, god of the ancient Kapampangans.
Highlighting the cultural diversity of Pampanga and the week-long Pampanga Foundation Day Festivities, the annual celebration of Sinukwan Festival is held from November 29 to December 6. The event relives the spirit of the Kapampangan in honor of Aring Sinukwan, the god of ancient Kapampangans, as various events for the festival are lined up. Activities include native photo contest, cultural pageants, trade fairs of food and crafts, cultural shows, and street dancing competition.
Expect to see colorful street dancing parade, featuring huge crowd of finely dressed, ornamentally crowned Pampanga people in the streets. Through this, the observance of the event heralds the beliefs and unique culture of the Kapampangans.The celebration also showcases music, talent, and native rituals of the Kapampangans or the people of Pampanga, as contingents from the towns of Pampanga outdo each other singing and dancing the Atin Cu Pung Singsing.
Recent holdings of the Sinukwan Festival focus mostly on making the festival serve as a unifying occasion for the various sectors of the community. Security and contingency measures for participating spectators of local and foreign tourist's arrival are assured, with various non-government organizations working with the city government to ensure safety among events and activities.They were able to integrate the festival with the Pampanga Day celebration, enhancing the cultural dimensions of the yearly affair while province officials are finding ways to invite other provinces to take part in the festival, similar to Sinulog, Masskara, and Bonok-bonok, among many others.
Province officials of Pampanga are in high hopes that through the Sinukwan Festival, their vision of making Pampanga a premier tourism destination in the Philippines succeed, and see other provinces join them in celebrating, even compete in the events of the festival, letting the Kapampangans warmly share their own art and culture.
Started in December 1998 when 13 of the 20 towns of Pampanga joined the celebration, now 10 more have expressed their intention of taking part in the festival.
Recent celebration of the Sinukwan Festival include addition of activities such as the opening ceremonies of the Kalugkug Sinukwan, followed by Kapampangan Cultural Show, Sunis Ning Leguan, drum and lyre competition, Lakan Ning Sinukwan, and Parada Ning Sinukwan.