Sayaw is the Waray’s generic term for “dance.” The oldest Waray dances on record are the men’s war dance, the women’s sabay, and a woman’s solo called the gigal. The men perform their war dance with real daggers and spears, and with their karasas (shields).

This traditional dance, native to the island but possibly inspired by the Mexican Cucaracha, is a lively folk dance, mimicking the movements of birds courting each other. The ethnic minority , mostly spread between Leyte and Samar islands, shares one language, the waray-waray , spoken by 2.6 million people.

The language name comes from the word often heard by non-speakers, "waray" (meaning "none" or "nothing" in Waray); similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as "mga Kana" and their language as "Kana" (after the oft-heard word "kana", meaning "that" in the Cebuano language).

Waray is the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. It is the native language of the Waray people and seco...

Waray-Waray Folk Dance is a native dance originally from Eastern Leyte of Visayas. Waray (also known as Waray-Waray) is an Austronesian language and the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. The word "Waray" means “none” or “nothing” or “not.”