As young Filipinos look beyond personal success and towards a better future for their families and communities, hundreds of water lanterns carried their hopes out to sea during Foundation University’s annual Dal-uy Festival in Dumaguete.
More than 7,000 students, university employees and members of the wider community gathered along Rizal Boulevard for the ceremony, a tradition that marks the start of the academic year with an evening of reflection, solidarity, and shared aspirations.
“Our goal is to encourage our students to understand their purpose within and beyond the school’s walls, look deeper within themselves, and envision the future that they want to live in. The Dal-uy Festival is meant to be a spiritual and uplifting moment for both our students and staff,” said Foundation University president Victor Vicente “Dean” Sinco.
From simple dreams to shared hopes
The festival traces its beginnings to 2000, when Foundation University staff held a small gathering at the campus’s Social Garden to welcome the new academic year. A decade later, the ceremony became a university-wide event and moved to Rizal Boulevard, where participants now send their lanterns across the sea.
The ritual has also taken on a broader meaning for students, according to Sinco.
“Years ago, most of the students simply wished to pass, to graduate, or to get a good job after graduation. Eventually, these wishes grew beyond their academic performance for the year: now, students are also thinking about their families and the hardships they are facing, and the simple act of sending a water lantern across the sea is their way of sending their hopes for a better future,” Sinco recounted.
The lanterns have thus become more than a symbol of personal aspirations. For participants, the ceremony offers a moment to reflect on the challenges facing their families and communities while imagining what lies ahead.
Keeping the tradition sustainable
The festival’s environmental practices are designed to ensure that the symbolic ritual does not leave a lasting footprint on the waters off Dumaguete.
Foundation University describes Dal-uy as a zero-waste celebration, with plastic folders and bamboo planks used to construct the water lanterns in line with the city’s environmental ordinance.
After the ceremony, the materials are collected for reuse at the following year’s festival. Those that can no longer be reused are sold, with proceeds used to purchase supplies for the university’s student scholars.
Local fisherfolk and authorities also help retrieve the lanterns from the water, with the university saying the effort recovers most, if not all, of those released during the ceremony.
“Every year, we have seen how the Dal-uy Festival has brought a sense of belonging and community to the participants, and their shared responsibility in turning the hopes and dreams of the youth into reality,” Sinco said.
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