“Pagpakanaog.Exe”: When the Archangel Descends and the Signal Dies

This study investigates how Gen Z’s digital engagement with the Diyandi Festival in Iligan City reconfigures cultural participation into a hybrid experience—where faith, identity, and storytelling unfold across both physical and digital spaces. Employing a qualitative case study design, enriched by digital ethnographic and content analytic methods, the research draws from semi-structured interviews, written and online artifacts, and a robust theoretical framework that includes Hall’s encoding/decoding model, Bakhtin’s carnivalesque theory, and Adorno’s critique of mass culture. Twenty salient themes emerged, mirroring the voices, views, sentiments, and lived experiences of young Iliganons as they navigate tradition through memes, livestreams, and remix aesthetics. Overall, the paper encapsulates the symbolic tension between sacred ritual and digital disruption, highlighting the fragility of mediated spirituality. The study’s innovation lies in its fusion of ethnographic depth with digital cultural analysis, offering a localized yet globally resonant portrait of participatory heritage. It positions Iligan’s festival as a living archive that stands resilient against the tide of global cultural information. Limitations in scope and generational range prompt recommendations for comparative and longitudinal research, and suggest the viability of a “phygital” festival model—one that blends physical celebration with digital engagement to ensure cultural continuity in the age of information.