User:Mikewazoowski

The "Iwag festival" is a festival of lights held each year in the town of Pototan in Iloilo, Philippines. Best known as the Rice-granary of Western Visayas. Started in 1997, this cherished festival of the Ilonggos opens December 16th as the lights are lit up all throughout the wide plaza as a highlight in celebrating the bright glow of the yuletide season. With it's extravagant display of lights, the town never ceases to amaze it's visitors as a Christmas village is made out ofrom the whole expansive plaza of Pototan every night.

The word "Iwag" is a Kinaray-a verb which means "to light". One will never miss the season's atmosphere as the boundaries of Pototan up to the town center are lit up with the sparkling lights. People from surrounding towns and the whole city flock Pototan to experience the town's hospitality and endless merry making. The unique tourist experience earned the town the title as " The Christmas Capital of Western Visayas".

Dating back to the year 1882, Edward H. Johnson working alongside Thomas Edison used eighty blue, white and red electric bulbs to decorate a tree making history of Christmas lights powered by electricity, which were pretty expensive in those days. It started with the decoration of a tree using candles to celebrate the beauty of nature. However, using candles in the tree was unsafe and it was in the 1930's when Christmas trees were decorated with electric lights which started at the white house. Soon, the rest of the world followed.