Pomp & pageantry

The Sinulog Festival in Cebu is one of the country’s grandest, most colorful festivals. It is held every year on the third Sunday of January to honor the Sto. Niño or the child Jesus. The festival is a dance ritual that celebrates the Filipino people’s pagan past and the Spanish imported religion that is Christianity. Sinulog is characterized with the most colorful display of pomp and pageantry. Participants wear colorful costumes and dance to the rhythm of drums, trumpets and native gongs. Mammoth crowds gather in the streets to watch and participate in the Sinulog. While dancing, people are shouting prayers, slogans and blurbs like Pit Señor!

One Sinulog, a few years ago, I was shooting for a commercial in one of the streets of Cebu. By divine design, the caro that carried the beloved Niño appeared like a heavenly apparition a few meters away from where I was shooting. I was stunned, and could not move in awe of what was in my presence. I prayed so hard, I didn’t know what I said. A few minutes later, I was screaming Pit Señor! Pit Señor!

Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which describes the current or flow of Cebu’s Pahina River. It accurately describes the dance movements of the crowds; two steps forward and one step backward. The Sinulog was already danced by the natives in honor of their wooden idols called anitos long before the first Cebuanos were baptized.

The celebration traditionally lasts for nine days, culminating on the ninth day when the Sinulog grand parade unfolds. The day before the parade, there is a fluvial procession held at dawn from the Mandaue City wharf to Cebu City wharf with the Sto. Niño carried on a pump boat decorated with hundreds of flowers and candles. The procession ends at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño where a re-enactment of the Christianizing of Cebu follows. In the afternoon, a more solemn procession takes place along major streets of the city that lasts for hours. On the feast day at the Basilica, a Pontifical Mass is celebrated by the Cardinal together with several bishops of Cebu. Majority of Cebuanos and devotees flock to attend the Mass before heading to the streets to watch the parade.

Historical accounts say that on April 7, 1521, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan arrived and planted a cross on Cebu shores. He gave the image of the Sto. Niño as baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, wife of Cebu’s Rajah Humabon. Hara Amihan was later named Queen Juana in honor of Juana, Carlos I’s mother. Along with the rulers of the island, some 800 natives were also baptized to the Christian faith. However, Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521 in an encounter with Rajah Lapu-Lapu, the reigning ruler of Mactan. Magellan’s men who survived returned to Spain. I would surmise that some danced to the sharks in the Pacific Ocean.

It took 44 years before the Spaniards achieved the formal Christianization of the islands. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu on April 28, 1565 and destroyed the village ruled by Rajah Tupas. In one of the burning huts, one of Legazpi’s soldiers named Juan Camus found a wooden box containing the image of the Sto. Niño lying among several native idols. Historians later said that during the 44 years between the coming of Magellan and Legazpi, natives continued to dance the Sinulog not to worship their anitos but as a sign of reverence to the Sto. Niño.

The Augustinian friars who accompanied Legazpi in his expedition proclaimed that the statue of the Sto. Niño was miraculous after it survived the great fire unscathed. They built a church on the site where it was found. The church was called San Agustin Church. It was later renamed Basilica Minore del Santo Niño by Cardinal Antonuitte, Papal Legate during the Fourth Centennial Celebration of the Christianization of Cebu on May 1965.

Before 1980, Sinulog was just a religious ritual. It was performed inside the Basilica by mostly old women who held one candle in each hand as they did the forward-backward dance of the Sinulog. In 1980, city leaders led by David Odilao Jr., former regional director of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, organized the first-ever Sinulog parade. In 1981, Sinulog became a full festival involving practically every sector in the Cebuano community.

The coat of arms of the Sto. Niño consists of a two-headed hawk, the mark of the House of Hapsburg in Europe. The emblem represented the twin purpose of the House which was to stand as "Champion of Catholicism and Defender of faith." The two-headed hawk was incorporated to a native warrior’s shield. The native shield symbolizes the country’s resistance to colonization while the Sto. Niño’s coat of arms printed on the face of the shield represents the country’s acceptance of Christianity.

Sinulog is one of the biggest attractions in Cebu. Thousands of tourists both local and foreign attend the festival. I was in Cebu last week to do a Private Conversations with Miss Cebu finalists. It’s always a joy to be part of the Sinulog. Pit Senor!