Thousands of lanterns floated along Dumaguete City's Rizal Boulevard on September 11 as Foundation University held its annual Dal-Uy Festival, a tradition that gives students a symbolic way to express their hopes for the future.
More than 7,000 people attended this year's celebration, bringing together students, faculty, university staff, alumni, and members of the wider community. For Foundation University, the event is more than a welcome to a new academic year. It has become an exercise in reflection, aspiration, and community.
The university describes Dal-Uy as its “Festival of Hope,” a tradition that has evolved considerably since it began as a small gathering on campus.
What is Foundation University’s Dal-Uy Festival?
Dal-Uy is an annual Foundation University tradition in Dumaguete City where members of the university community write their hopes and dreams on lanterns before floating them on the sea.
The name is associated with the Filipino word daloy, meaning “to flow.” Foundation University's account of the tradition traces its inspiration to lantern-floating practices in Japan and its early years as a small university gathering.
The tradition started in 2000 with university administrators floating lanterns in the Social Garden pond. By 2010, it had developed into a university-wide event at Rizal Boulevard.
That evolution mirrors the changing role of the festival itself. What began as a personal ritual has become a shared annual experience involving a much larger part of the university and local community.
How have students’ hopes changed over the years?
Foundation University President Victor Vicente “Dean” Sinco said students' wishes have expanded beyond traditional academic aspirations.
Earlier generations, he recalled, often wrote about passing their subjects, graduating, or finding a good job. Today, he said, students increasingly express hopes that extend to their families and the challenges they face.
That shift gives the festival a useful lens into how young people view education. Academic achievement remains important, but students are also thinking about employment, family responsibilities, personal challenges, and the kind of future they want to build.
The university's own stories about previous Dal-Uy celebrations illustrate that evolution. In its 2025 coverage, alumni described returning to the festival with aspirations that had changed since their student years, including career opportunities, further studies, professional goals, and hopes for the people they now serve.
For an educational institution, that distinction is significant. A student's idea of success does not necessarily end with a diploma.
Why has Dal-Uy become more than a school tradition?
The festival has gradually developed into a form of community-building.
Students participate alongside teachers, university administrators, alumni, families, and other members of the Dumaguete community. Alumni have also returned to the celebration to revisit a tradition that was part of their student experience.
That continuity gives Dal-Uy an institutional role beyond a once-a-year event.
University traditions can provide students with a shared experience that exists outside classrooms, examinations, and academic requirements. In Dal-Uy's case, the lantern becomes a simple physical representation of something personal, while the act of releasing it becomes a collective experience.
The result is a tradition that connects different generations of the university community.
How does Foundation University address the festival’s environmental impact?
The lantern release also creates an environmental responsibility because the activity takes place along the city's coastline.
Foundation University says Dal-Uy is conducted in accordance with Dumaguete City's ecological protection ordinances. Its 2026 account says the lanterns and floating platforms are designed using biodegradable and reusable materials, while local fishermen help retrieve the lanterns from the water after the event.
The university's earlier descriptions provide additional detail on its approach. Materials used for the lanterns and platforms are collected after the event for possible reuse, while materials that can no longer be reused may be sold, with proceeds supporting student scholars.
That approach matters because public celebrations involving large numbers of people can create environmental pressures of their own. In Dal-Uy's case, cleanup and retrieval are treated as part of the event rather than an afterthought.
The university's current account says organizers use nets and buoys to retrieve lanterns, with local fishermen helping monitor the water.
What does Dal-Uy say about the role of education?
At its core, Dal-Uy reflects an idea that education involves more than academic credentials.
Foundation University's stated mission is to develop individuals who become productive, creative, and responsible members of society.
The festival provides a public expression of that philosophy. Students are encouraged to consider not only what they want to achieve personally but also how their aspirations connect to their families and communities.
That emphasis is particularly relevant at a time when young Filipinos are navigating questions around employment, economic security, migration, technology, and social responsibility.
The university's own recent programs similarly emphasize preparing young people for life beyond the classroom. In 2025, for example, Foundation University launched a YUNUS Social Business Center intended to help young people develop social-business ventures addressing real-world problems.
Dal-Uy operates in a very different space, but the underlying theme is similar: giving young people room to imagine the future while encouraging them to connect those aspirations with the wider community.
From individual wishes to shared aspirations
The sight of thousands of lanterns moving across the water is visually striking, but the more enduring part of Dal-Uy may be what happens before the lanterns are released.
Each participant begins with a personal hope.
Once the lanterns enter the water together, those individual aspirations become part of a shared community experience.
That transformation explains why the tradition has continued for more than two decades. The wishes change from one generation to the next, but the need to pause, reflect, and imagine a better future remains.
For Foundation University, Dal-Uy has become a way to welcome a new academic year while reminding its community that education is ultimately connected to the lives students hope to build after they leave the classroom.