The Sinulog Festival is an annual cultural and religious festival held every third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. The celebration is considered to be the queen of festivals in the Philippines, attracting millions of people from all over the Philippines and around the world. Aside from its religious aspect, Sinulog is also known for its street parties and merrymaking, that usually happens the night before and on the night of the main festival.
The word “sinulog” comes from the Cebuano adverb “sulog” which roughly refers to a “water current movement”, described by the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance. The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of drums.
The ritual prayer-dance is being held in honor of the Señor Santo Niño or the Child Jesus. As history suggest, an image of the Child Jesus was a baptismal gift that the Portuguese conquistador, Ferdinand Magellan, gave Hara Amihan (Humanay) of Zebu (now Cebu) in April 1521. The image, believed to be miraculous, is now housed at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in downtown Cebu City.
According to local historical accounts, the natives of Cebu already danced the rituals to honor their animist idols long before the arrival of Magellan, who led a Spanish expedition on April 7, 1521. Magellan did not live long after he introduced Christianity. He died in a failed assault on nearby Mactan island at the hands of a local chieftain named Lapu-Lapu. Survivors of Magellan’s expedition left behind the image to be discovered forty-four years later.
The expedition, led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, bombarded the native settlement when they arrived on April 28, 1565. In one of the burning huts, one of Legazpi’s men, Juan Camus, discovered the image of the Santo Niño inside a wooden box beside other idols. This time however, Legazpi discovered that the natives already dance the Sinulog honoring the Santo Niño.
Today the Sinulog commemorates the Filipino people’s acceptance of Christianity (specifically, Roman Catholicism), and their rejection of their former animist beliefs (worship of nature). The first of these conversions happened in 1521 on the island of Cebu, when Indianized-Sanskritized ruler Rajah Humabon and his queen Amihan (Humamay) were baptized along with their subjects, becoming Carlos and Juana of Cebu.
These pictures were taken during the 2009 and 2010 street parade and festivities.
All rights reserved.
—————-
Please VIEW, LIKE, and SUBSCRIBE to my channel as I post more slideshows and vlogs about my travels, stories, and other interesting stuff. Enable the NOTIFICATION button to get yourselves updated with the latest posts.
You may also leave your comments and suggestions down below and I’ll be very glad to respond.
See you.