Tanauan, Leyte is a local holiday. "Tinikling" is the most popular and best known of Philippine dances and honored as the Philippine national dance. It is one of the oldest Philippine traditional dances and originated in Leyte Province. The people of Leyte describe the tikling bird as one of the most unique in its movements - walking around and between the tree branches and some grass stems. This bird was named "tikling" from which the Tinikling dance got its name. Because of the creativeness of the Leytenos, they imitate this bird by using bamboo poles. In 2006, the attention of the then
Tinikling faster as the dance progresses, forcing the dancers closer together as their movements become more frantic. The dancers hold hands at the last part of the dance, when the tempo is the fastest. They end the dance by letting go of each other's hands and stepping out entirely of the moving bamboo poles. For the dance, females traditionally wear a dress called "balintawak" or "patadyong", and males wear an untucked embroidered shirt called the "barong Tagalog". The "balintawak" are colorful dresses with wide arched sleeves and the "patadyong" is a pineapple fiber blouse paired with checkered skirts. The "barong Tagalog"