Pintaflores Festival 2019

Annual festival in the City of San Carlos which takes its name from the Spanish word “pinta” (tattoo) and “flores” (flowers). It is, in fact, a combined version of the Nabingkalan Tattoo Festival and the Dance of Flowers, both of which derive from the legend of Princess Nabingka, a daughter of a chieftain from Cebu who sailed with her entourage to San Carlos in the early 17th century. The story goes that the princess, separated from her family, became melancholy in her new home and so all tribesmen were ordered to plant flowers and trees to try and revive her spirits. But these did not take in the humid plains, and so instead it was decreed that all tribesmen and women must tattoo their bodies with flowers instead. Today, the dancers at the festival have their bodies painted and wear flamboyant floral costumes in memory of the beginnings of San Carlos.