Sinulog Festival
There are several reason why you should visit Cebu. This includes the powdery white beaches, the people, its culture, the churches and most especially the Sinulog Festival. Every year the Cebuanos celebrates Sinulog to thank Sto. Nino for all his blessings. This is done through dancing on the streets and prayers.
The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. The festival honors the child Jesus, known as the Santo Niño (Holy Child), patron of the city of Cebu. It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano peoples Islamic and pagan origin, and their acceptance of Christianity.
The festival features a street parade with participants in bright colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumphets and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a “Sinulog sa Kabataan” performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is usually held in the Cebu City Sports Complex.
The Sinulog festival is one of the grandest, most distinguished and most colorful festivals in the Philippines. The major festival is held each year on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is fundamentally a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and their recognition of Christianity.
The festival features some the country’s most colorful displays of ceremony and pageantry: participants clothe in bright-colored costumes dance to the rhythm of drums and native gongs. The streets are generally lined with vendors and pedestrians all wanting to witness the street-dancing. Smaller versions of the festival are also held in different parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a Sinulog sa Kabataan, which is performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the Grand Parade.
Recently, the cultural event has been commercialized as a tourist attraction and instead of traditional street-dancing from locals; Sinulog also came to mean a contest highlighting groups from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is traditionally held in the Cebu City Sports Complex, where most of Cebu’s major provincial events are held.
Visit Cebu on January and witness the color wonders at the streets with their dances paying tribute to their saint.
10/09/2009 at 3:23 pm
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