Cebu's Sinulog weekend: Pit Senyor!

There is no doubt about it, in this country Cebu has the longest Christmas celebration because right after the New Year revelry, we always celebrate Sinulog Week and if traffic in Metro Cebu was as bad as Metro Manila’s last December and it is still as bad in January we can only give thanks to the Sinulog celebration, which has become the country’s top tourism drawer and one of Asia’s festivals to watch.

Early dawn today, the fluvial parade kicks off from Mandaue City to downtown Cebu where the much revered and historic statue of the Senyor Sto. Niño will be transferred from the St. Joseph’s Basilica to the Sto. Niño Basilica in downtown Cebu City. The fluvial parade is expected to draw millions of well-wishers who are now in Cebu from various parts of the country, including a record number of tourists. Upon arrival in Cebu City, there will be a re-enactment of the First Mass and Baptism followed by a Pontifical Mass. Later at 2 p.m., the solemn procession of the miraculous image of the Senyor Sto. Niño will begin where at least a crowd of two million devotees is expected to participate.

Just as week ago, we read that millions of Catholic males expressing their devotion to the Black Nazarene, which ended with two people being crushed to death in the tortuous procession from the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park and back to the Quiapo Church and scores wounded. That act of extreme devotion had Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales expressing his dismay over the “excessive” display of faith by the devotees.

I fully agree with the Manila Archbishop. We should not overly show or express our Catholic faith in such a public albeit unruly manner because we actually end up like the Pharisees who do what they do merely to show to the people that they adore and obey God. Contrast this to the millions of devotees who will attend today’s solemn procession for the Senyor Sto. Niño where there is a multitude in total silence and reverence for the Child Jesus and no one gets crush or killed in the process.

Cebuanos have learned not to mix our religious devotion to the Sto. Niño which we hold today. However tomorrow, we will have our joyous annual celebration called the Sinulog Mardi Gras, which marks the 30th year of what has been dubbed as the Fiesta of Cebu City. Perhaps what our brethren in Manila need is more catechism, more piety and less show of devotion. I’m sure that they can learn from us in Cebu.

Thirty years ago, Sinulog had its humble beginnings when then Cebu Customs Commissioner David Odilao Sr. gathered a few enterprising groups and held a “Sinug” Festival around the Basilica of Senyor Sto. Niño. The “Sinug” is a dance of offering by poor devotees who, for a fee, dance your petitions in front of the Basilica’s door. I have seen this dance since I was a kid, when my mother would bring me to church. Little did we know that something as simple and basic as this dance of offering would become the basis for the country’s biggest tourism drawer.

Of course, Commissioner Odilao had the support of then Cebu City Mayor Florentino Solon. Years later, the Sinulog Foundation was created in order to perpetuate this celebration and soon, the parade route reached to as far as the old Lahug Airport. But since then, the parade route has embraced a “carousel” setup where from the assembly area along P. del Rosario St., the parade has moved toward Mango Avenue (now Gen. Maxilom St.) then to Fuente Osmeña, along the Osmeña Boulevard and into the Cebu City Sports Center.

The carousel system gives all the contingents a chance to show their dance to a greater number of people watching the Sinulog along the streets of Cebu City, who cannot afford to pay (or even reach) the grandstand where the judging is done. So join us in our 30th Sinulog Festival… that’s if you can be a chance passenger on the flights to Cebu and get lucky enough to find a hotel room to stay. Pit Senyor!

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The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince, the capital of that impoverished nation Haiti, is clear proof that the United Nations (UN) as a world body designed to solve problems among nations only reacts when problems arise. We expected the UN to map out strategies that would have helped poor nations like Haiti cope with a disaster of this magnitude. We learned that Haiti doesn’t even have teams that could immediately attend to such problems. The UN has been feeding Haitians for many years because 80 percent of the Haitian people are living below the poverty line. Thanks to decades of political strife and infighting, this is why there’s a UN peacekeeping force there, 15 of whom are Filipinos. Let’s hope and pray to the Sto. Niño that they’re all safe and sound.

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