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Dinagyang had its humble beginnings in the devotion to the Señor Santo Niño that began to take root in the hearts of Ilonggos some 40 years ago. Rev. Fr. Ambrosio Galindez started to introduce the devotion to Santo Niño in November 1967, with the usual novenas and masses in honor of the latter.

The devotion sparked a spiritual inspiration among the faithful in the parish such that they readily made it part of their religious lifestyle.
The following year, a replica of the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to Iloilo by Fr. Sulpicio Enderez. He intended that image to be given as a gift to the Parish of San Jose through Father Galindez. It was no ordinary arrival in Iloilo, for the faithful, led by members of Confradia del Santo Niño de Cebu, Iloilo Chapter, worked to give the image a fitting reception starting at the Iloilo Airport, down the streets of Iloilo, where they paraded it.

Since then, the image has made its home at the San Jose Church, where devotees pay honour in his Feast which falls on the third Sunday of January. Fr. Margallo said that the observance of the feast follows the Liturgical Calendar of the Church.

The first parish feast of the Señor Santo Niño was celebrated in 1969, a year after the arrival. The main feature of the feast was the first fluvial procession where the image was borne on a decorated banca, starting from the mouth of Iloilo river at Fort San Pedro, down to Iloilo Provincial Capitol and back to San Jose church.

The observance of the feast since the arrival of the image was characterized with merry-making confined only within the parochial level. The Confradia patterened the features of the Ati-atihan similar to Ibajay, Aklan, where natives dance on the streets, their bodies covered with soot and ashes. It was not an imitation in its entirety of rituals, but an imitation done in the spirit of devotion to the Child Jesus.
Father Margallo said that the early ritual in the celebration took it's theme from some historical facts, like, the devotion to Señor Santo Niño was first exhibited by the natives of Cebu, where the image as first brought by the Spaniards.

It was the tribal groups first paid homage and was in this prototype of devotion that the present festival takes its form, contextualized only in Ilonggo culture.

Father Margallo added that wishing not to depart from the original spirit of the devotion and in appreciating the gift of faith that was "transported" from Cebu, the Ilonggos have all the reasons to celebrate, be merry, through street dancing, fluvial preocessions and local reenactment of that devotion in tribes competition, conceptualized by participating barangays.
In 1977, that simple, humble devotion had found its way into the mainstream culture, which, again Fr. Margallo called a "blending of purpose". It was the year, the national government mandated the regions to come up with festivals or celebrations that can boost the spirit of tourism and development into one.

The city of Iloilo readily identified the Iloilo Ati-atihan as its tourism potential project, which came on time just as the local parish proponent could hardly handle the growing challenges of the expanding upsurge of devotion.

The blending of purpose is captured in the magnetic word Dinagyang, the symbol of devotion in dynamic motion, in making Iloilo today, "the only one", evolving its own story of faith and culture in perfect timing.