Santa Cruz town saw more children devotees in its own version of the feast of the Sto. Niño on Jan. 15 compared to previous years.
Hundreds of children participated in the Ati-Atihan street dancing parade while hundreds more converged at the town plaza to watch the group performances. The children, ages 4 to 12, consisted of 13 groups with 30-50 children per group.
“The annual event has evolved from a purely adult-dominated festivity when it started in 1963 to one in which the children hogged the limelight,” says Diana.
Accompanied by their parents and guardians, the children came dressed in colorful tribal costumes made from indigenous or recycled materials.
Swaying and dancing to the beat of drums and bamboo percussion instruments while shouting “Hala Bira” the children pranced around with make-believe spears and swords.
Althea Brianne, 8, and in her second time to join the festivities, says she joined to ask for God’s blessings. Her mother Aizelle says her child’s interest in joining helped her get to know the Sto. Niño more and made her more aware of the Ati-Atihan tradition.
Ayesa Wayne Chan, 11, who was in her third year as a participant, says dancing for the Child Jesus made her happy.
Ronnie Diana, founder and organizer of the Ati-Atihan festival in Santa Cruz, wishes that local residents be drawn more to the occasion’s religious value than the call of commercialism.
This is his response to criticisms that the Sto. Niño festival would never be a tourism showcase as it is a mere copy of the original.
“We did not intend to copy the original. What we did then and what we are doing now is simply to encourage residents to become devotees of the child Jesus and to embrace its essence,” says Diana.
Diana, who hails from Aklan, helped organize the first Ati-Atihan celebration in the town in 1963.
He recounts that at that time 12 fellow Aklan natives stained themselves with charcoal and pranced around the town proper with an image of the Sto. Niño.
He remembers that his friends were jailed because local officials and residents were not aware of the Ati-Atihan tradition. “It was through the intervention of a priest that we were freed.”
Copycat
Critics say the town’s version of the Ati-Atihan would never be at par with the glitz and fanfare of the Sinulog of Cebu, the Dinagyang of Iloilo and the Ati-Atihan of Kalibo that have attracted millions of tourists through the years.
“Our version has been around since the 1960s but look at how far we are left behind by the much younger Dinagyang and Sinulog festivals,” says an elderly who refused to be named.
He wonders why organizers in the province could not emulate the groups behind the different Sto. Niño fests in the Visayas who are supported by big companies financially.
Diana says that sans any financial help from the big firms, Marinduque’s version of the festival has survived through the years.
He attributes this to the efforts of the elder devotees who wanted to preserve and enhance their devotion to the child Jesus.
“Ours is a religious tradition and not a tourism showcase. We are happy with what we have,” he says.
Even as politicians promised to include the festival in their tourism agenda Diana says they have not given in to their request, at least for now.
He says his group fears politics could overwhelm the real essence of their devotion.