COLORFUL Participants garbed in bright costumes dance in honor of the Señor Sto. Niño during the Sinulog Festival 2020 grand parade. The festival, held every third Sunday of January, was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the festival will go virtual as the city still suffering the devastation of Typhoon “Odette,” which pummeled Cebu on Dec. 16. —NESTLE SEMILLA
CEBU CITY—One of the grandest and biggest festivals in the country will proceed amid the devastation caused by Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) and the coronavirus pandemic.
But there will no longer be any physical dance performances for Cebu’s premier festivity on Jan. 16.
It will be replaced with a virtual live activity that will feature videos and interviews on the history of the Sinulog, replays of dance performances in the past, and other highlights on the cultural celebration in honor of the Sto. Niño or the Holy Child Jesus.
The simple activity will be conducted as a fundraiser for victims of Odette, which battered central and southern Cebu on Dec. 16.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, however, had yet to divulge the mechanics of the fundraising campaign.
“The Sinulog will push through. We already have a concept and we will bring it to the Sinulog Foundation as it is primarily their activity. We don’t need to expect any more physical activity,” he said. “Let us bear with the situation now. This whole activity is an expression of our faith in the Sto. Niño. It is now more on recovery.”
At least 96 persons died in Cebu island due to Odette—63 in the province, 17 in Cebu City, nine in Lapu-Lapu City, and seven in Mandaue City.
Hundreds of people lost their homes due to the strongest typhoon that hit Cebu and the country in 2021.
Trust Jesus
The Fiesta Señor (Feast of the Child Jesus), the religious celebration with which the secular Sinulog Festival is based on, would also go virtual this year.
Except for priests, acolytes, lectors, choir members and other church personnel, no one was allowed inside the centuries-old Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in downtown Cebu City when the novena Masses started on Jan. 7. It would continue until the end of the feast day on Jan. 16 .
Devotees were encouraged to join the novena and feast day Masses through the official Facebook page of the basilica and some social media pages of mainstream media. But the open-air Pilgrim Center would remain open to visitors who wish to light candles and pay homage to the Sto. Niño.
The original image of the Sto. Niño, which was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan as baptismal gift to Cebu’s Queen Juana in 1521, is located inside the basilica and will be off-limits to the public this year.
In his homily during the first novena Mass on Friday, basilica rector Fr. Nelson Zerda urged the people to never lose hope and to trust in God amid the difficulties they encountered.
“God is with us. He listens to our cries. (And so,) let us pray for courage and strength so we will be able to express our petitions to the Child Jesus,” he said. —NESTLE SEMILLA AND ADOR VINCENT MAYOL