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Sinulog 2014
One Grey Sky, Millions Of Colours
Photos and Text: Alvin Leow
Behind the Cebu City Sports Centre underneath grey skies that threaten rain, beads of perspiration roll down the brow of a stagehand as he pushes a larger than life figure of Santo Nino up a sloping road and line it up against other props of trees, flowers, walls, gates and figments of every other imaginable scene. Like a well trained army, stagehands work tirelessly in a series of seamless manouveres to line the props in an exact sequence along the narrow road and inch them into the Sports Centre.
This is the moment that every performing contingent in the Sinulog festival has been waiting for: the opportunity to impress a panel of esteemed judges and a packed cheering stadium. Almost magically, scenes of fishing villages, forests and clock towers glide into place and unfold across a stage as wide as a
football field. Flowers, candles and Santo Ninos come to life, animated by an army of unseen hands to the catchy beat and rhythm of the Sinulog song. At the front, hundreds of dancers in colorful costumes act out how earthquakes, tree spirits, evil dwarves and calamities have wrecked ill and despair only to be rescued and soothed by the holy child Santo Nino.
The energy and effortlessness of each performance hides the months of choreography, rehearsals and prop design. The Sinulog is a dance in honour of Santo Nino. The dance is built around a simple routine of taking two steps forward and one step back. Dancers move to the sound of drums and this resembles the current and flow of Cebu’s Pahina river.
The Sinulog festival has been organized every third Sunday of January since 1981. Each year, the festival grows in size and grandeur. But this Sinulog is different from the rest. Preceded by an earthquake and typhoon just months before, Cebu city also endured some damage although she did not bear the full brunt of nature’s rage. Most notably, a tower at the Basilica del Santo Nino church where the annual Sinulog mass takes place collapsed in the quake. It is therefore only natural to wonder if the festival would be scaled down, perhaps even considerably.
But the man behind recent festivals is the tireless Cebu City Mayor, Michael Rama. Apart of hosting visiting dignitaries, officiating events, making speeches and giving awards, Michael Rama squeezes time to inspect every inch of the stadium to make sure that arrangements are in order, pose for photographs and banter with folks who turn up to watch the performances. Such is the confidence that earlier on in the month, the Philippines Sunstar reported the Mayor as advising his officials to prepare for huge crowds in this year’s celebration.
Resilience is probably in the DNA of Cebuanos. More than 3.5 million Cebuanos and tourists thronged the 6 km route in the city to support and watch the Grand Parade. Although the number of dancing contingents at 35 was lower than Sinulog 2013, this was barely noticed in the celebratory air surrounding Cebu city.
In fact, when I touched down in Cebu late Friday morning, celebrations quickly got underway the same evening with the Festival Queen contest that was broadcasted livethrough the city. This year’s Festival Queen, Christine Abellanosa, from Tuburan City, Cebu won in unprecedented fashion as she swept Festival Queen and 10 other awards including Miss Congeniality, Best Costume, Best In Costume and Best Solo Performer.
As the dancing contingents wind their way through the city to the sports centre, I found an opportunity to catch up with Christine as she led her 300-strong contingent comprising about 100 dancers in bright costumes and 200 stage hands wheeling props through the street. Clearly, she was surprised with the sheer number of awards won and let on that it took her 5 months to prepare for the contest. When I asked if the typhoon and earthquake gave her pause in joining the contest, she smiled and revealed “No, because I had already dedicated my dance to Senőr Santo Nino”.
The Sinulog has its roots in history and religion. Legend has it that in a battle in Cebu in 1565, a village was bombarded and burnt. Going through the smoldering ashes, soldiers found inside a wooden box the image of the Santo Nino, darkened by the raging fire but otherwise miraculously intact. In modern day Cebu, this miracle is celebrated every year on the day before the Grand Parade with the Fluvial sea procession that ends in mass and prayers at the Basilica del Santo Nino.
The parish extends well beyond the walls of the church. As the morning’s mass was underway thousands outside the Basilica stopped and waved their hands in worship and sang along with the hymns. Even though not literally hand-in-hand, Cebuanos were certainly together in spirit and mind. And perhaps this, above all, is what allowed the festival to retain its colour even in the face of calamities.
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