Sinulog: The country’s greatest fiesta!

Cebu’s Sinulog Festival is without any doubt, the nation’s biggest fiesta celebration bar none! Almost all major road intersections in Cebu City were clogged with so much people and traffic for most of the week, it really tasked your patience. Let me point out that Cebuanos hate to drive longer than they have to, but the nearer we got to the weekend, the traffic got worse. Every single night, places like Fuente Osmeña or the Plaza Independencia were so full of people; most motorists avoided passing those areas.

At dawn Saturday, thousands of devotees lined up on both sides of the Mactan channel to see the fluvial parade where a flotilla of some 120 vessels of all sizes escorted the M/V Trinidad bringing the Señor Sto. Niño (accompanied by Cebu’s Patroness, Our Lady of Guadalupe) from the Port of Mandaue to the Port of Cebu City. In a very rare sight to the hundreds of thousands of people watching the fluvial parade, a double rainbow appeared in the early morning sky to bless the flotilla as it made its way back to Cebu City. Perhaps this was God’s way of assuring the thousands of devotees that we shall be so blessed this year… it was to many a very good omen.

Later in the afternoon, the much-awaited procession began and an estimated 800,000 devotees joined this very solemn religious activity, where as always, the beginning of the seven-kilometer procession had already returned to the Sto. Niño Basilica, while the carroza bearing the Holy Child Jesus was still leaving the church. It was a sea of heads with only the image of the Señor Sto. Niño towering over the heads of the devotees.

The Sinulog Festival was managed by the Sinulog Foundation Inc. chaired by Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama. The activities included the Miss Cebu Tourism Contest, the Handuraw and the Cebu Pop Music Festival. This year’s champion was the song Tatay Pauli Na! (Father, please come home) interpreted by the boy Gran Tustos. The religious aspect, which was the fluvial parade and the religious procession, was done by the Augustinian priests. But the whole of Cebu turned the Sinulog into all sorts of commercial spectacles. Street parties with their respective sponsors were held almost at every street corner, while the shopping malls tried to outdo each other.

The Ayala Shopping Mall, for instance, had its Saulog sa Ayala with a grand fiesta sale… and an exhibit of different Sto. Niño statues from all over the Philippines, mostly from the personal collection of Msgr. Cris Garcia, including a diorama of the island of Cebu depicting where the Sto. Niño can be found. The Japanese Embassy, through the Japan Foundation, even brought an international flavor to the Sinulog by bringing in the Yamato Wadaiko drummers to entertain the shoppers in the Ayala Center.

Petty criminals were also active during the Sinulog and one incident was kind of too close for comfort for me. Last Saturday afternoon, I could not go to the procession as it was my grandson Mico’s fifth birthday party, which was held at Jollibee in the Ayala Center. At the height of the party, a young girl came inside the party room and snatched the gold pendant of a Korean boy, a classmate of my grandson. The young girl disappeared in the crowd and was never caught. From what we heard, this has been happening to a lot of Jollibee outlets having weekly kiddie parties.

Saturday evening, after the procession and right before the Grand Sinulog parade, gave you an idea of how many visitors were in Cebu during the fiesta because you could see many people walking on the streets going from one place to the next. Traffic in Cebu City by 11 p.m. was like the middle of rush hour! Street happenings with rock bands could be seen everywhere. All this was capped with a spectacular fireworks display in the Ayala Center; one would think we were still celebrating New Year’s Eve!

I can only give you a report for the first half of the Sinulog parade because I overextended my deadline for this article. There were 23 participants in the Free Interpretation, while there were 20 Sinulog-based entries. I found Oslob’s Sadsad (Oslob is a town 100 kilometers south of Cebu City) very elegant and colorful. The male dancers wore formal Spanish-period costumes in coats and tails, while the females wore long evening gowns complete with red rose ribbons in their hats.

Tribu Magdadaro depicted dancers wearing farmers’ attire, carrying huge grass baskets on their backs. The biggest float I saw was ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother which was almost a complete house atop a trailer truck. Negros Oriental was represented by the Langub, Mabinay. Yes, as we said, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia danced with her group in the province of Cebu, while Cebu City’s First Lady Margot Osmeña also danced with the Cebu City dance sports team.

As of press time, we haven’t heard any major untoward incidents or criminality being reported by the media… a miraculous feat given the magnitude of this celebration for the Señor Sto. Niño. It wasn’t as hot as expected because of a light overcast; it even drizzled a little mid-afternoon. As it always happens in every Sinulog, another miracle is that Cebu City’s street sweepers are able to clean up the previous day’s mess when Monday morning comes.

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While we celebrated the 26th year of the Sinulog Festival, the Cebu Country Club (CCC) also celebrated the 25th or silver anniversary of its Coral Tee Invitational Golf Tournament, where members play with partners who are not members of the Club. This year’s tournament attracted more than 500 golfers from different parts of the country. Just to name, a few golfers who are considered "friends of Cebu" we saw included Jose "Pepito" Alvarez, Dr. George Garcia, Haney Palanca, Rudy Cuenca, Dr. Mike Celdran, Thirdy Escano, PSC Commissioner Ritchie Garcia, Martin Kleger of UBS, and Atty. Raymond "Archie" Fortun. The Cebu Country Club is the only golf club in the country that annually holds a "Calcutta" where golfers who score well on the first round are "auctioned or bid out" to the highest bidder… winner take all! Total take for this year was P700,000 bucks! Now who was it who said that Cebuanos are kuripot? Yes, this type of golfing activity is done only at the Cebu Country Club… it’s not done even in golf-crazy Manila.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.