CaRes observes feast of Sto. NiƱo with festive Sinulog atmosphere

sinulog

Baguio City ā€” The beat and rhythm of the Sinulog in Cebu City resonated even in a cold mountain city located some 1,900 kilometers from the center of the festivities.

This as seminarians and devotees carrying with them different sizes and versions of the Sto. NiƱo statue flocked to the chapel of Casiciaco Recoletos Seminary here last Sunday ā€” January 20, 2019 ā€” to take part in the observance of the feast of the Holy Child Jesus.

ā€œThe feast of the Sto. NiƱo is very dear to us Filipinos,ā€ mass presider Fr. Bernard Amparado, OAR said in his homily. ā€œOur devotion to the Holy Child Jesus coincided with the writing of the first pages of our history.ā€

Fr. Amparado, who is also the seminary rector, blessed the little children present and the different Sto. NiƱo statues of the mass goers in a special rite during the mass. After the final blessing, the rector held the chapelā€™s enthroned Sto. NiƱo icon in both hands and danced to the popular beat of the Sinulog in front of the altar, a Sinulog tradition observed by presiding priests in Cebu.

According to the journal entry of Pigaffeta, the official chronicler in Ferdinand Magellanā€™s expedition, Queen Juana of Cebu received as gift the image of the Sto. NiƱo after she ā€” with husband Rajah Humabon and some 800 natives ā€” was baptized by Fr. Pedro Valderrama in 1521. It was Pigafetta himself who presented her the sacred image, now considered the oldest Catholic icon in the country.

Some 40 years later in 1565, a sailor in Miguel Lopez de Legaspiā€™s fleet found in one of the destroyed houses of a village in Cebu the same unscathed image of the Sto. NiƱo which had been given to Queen Juana. The image has since been entrusted to the care of the Augustinian Fathers and housed in the Basilica Minore del Sto. NiƱo de Cebu.

Sinulog in Baguio

ā€œThe image of the Sto. NiƱo is the image of God who is powerful but has made Himself accessible, lovable and endearing to men,ā€ the Fr. Rector said. ā€œHe stripped Himself of all majesty and glory and assumed every likelihood of man except sin.ā€

He exhorted the faithful to imitate the virtues present in the Sto. NiƱo ā€” and in every child ā€” namely: simplicity, humility, innocence, docility and trustfulness.

ā€œGod took the initiative to be near us so He could bring us back into his fold, so weā€™d do well to follow the examples of the Sto. NiƱo,ā€ he added.

The neophyte seminarians, before the 7 a.m. mass, started the festive mood by dancing to the beat of the Sinulog inside the chapel. With the mass goers already seated, they performed their dance routine along the aisles and gave the audience a close-up feel of what is happening in Cebuā€™s streets at those very moments.

After the mass, the Grade 12 seminarians gave a more elaborate performance of the Sinulog at the seminary faƧade, with a live band playing Sinulog beat and rhythm. The mass goers were visibly pleased with the performances, judging by their reactions.   

ā€œThis makes me feel at least close to home in this special feast of the Sto. NiƱo,ā€ said Bantayan, Cebu-native Br. Kline Kysser Asentista who was one of the organizers of the activity. He was also the Sto. NiƱo bearer for the Grade 12 dancers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bro. Ioannes Arong

Bro. Ioannes Arong

Postulant/Correspondent of the Order of Augustinian Recollects in the Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno