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Filipinos brave rain to join festival honoring Child Jesus

More than a million devotees prayed and danced in the streets of the Philippine city of Cebu
Filipinos brave rain to join festival honoring Child Jesus

A dancer carries an image of the Child Jesus during the annual parade in Cebu City on Jan. 15. (ucanews.com photo)

Published: January 16, 2017 09:00 AM GMT
Updated: January 16, 2017 09:06 AM GMT

Hundreds of thousands of people braved the rain to join festive rites and grand religious processions to honor the Child Jesus in the central Philippine city of Cebu over the weekend.

Men, women, and children from all walks of life prayed and danced in the streets of the city for two days during the feast of the Santo Nino or the Child Jesus.

The "Sinulog" or dance prayer, the oldest festival in the country, gathered more than a million devotees, including local and foreign tourists.

"Sinulog," from the Cebuano word "sulog" or water current, depicts the forward-backward movement of water that is danced to the beat of drums.

Devotees wave their hands in the air and shout "Viva Senor Santo Nino!" of "Hail to the Holy Child! and "Pit Senor!" short for "Sangpit sa Senyor (Call to King)"

A flotilla of some 300 colorfully decorated boats and ships joined the fluvial procession that carried the 500-year old image of the Child Jesus that was brought to the country in 1521.

The 15-inch tall image of the Santo Nino in Cebu is a gift of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the queen of the island, Juana, during her baptism as a Catholic.

Despite the rain, the annual fluvial procession proceeded smoothly as thousands of devotees lined up the port area of Cebu to witness the religious activity.

The image of the Child Jesus and the Virgin of Guadalupe was then paraded from the port to the Minor Basilica of the Santo Nino where the first baptism on the island in 1521 was reenacted.

 

 

Hundreds of boats and ships join the Jan. 14 fluvial procession that reenacts the arrival of the image of the Santo Nino in Cebu more than 400 years ago. (ucanews.com photo)

 

Centuries-old devotion

The devotion of Filipinos, especially people from Cebu, to the Child Jesus has deep historical roots.

The image of the Holy Child was brought to the country by Magellan on April 14, 1521 as a gift to Queen Juana.

Juana's husband, Rajah Humabon and some 800 natives, were also baptized, thus bringing for the first time Christianity in the country.

In 1565, when Spanish conqueror Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu, a Spanish soldier found the image inside a burned house of a native. Legazpi then named Cebu as the "City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus."

Today, the image now known as Santo Nino de Cebu, is considered the oldest Christian relic in the country. It is enshrined at the Basilica, the oldest church in the country.

 

Tinged with sadness

This year's festivities in Manila' poor district of Tondo, however, was "tinged with sadness" because of the number of victims of summary executions in the community.

"Many families who lost a loved one are not celebrating. They are in mourning," said Father Edu Gariguez of the social action secretariat of the bishops' conference.

The priest, who serves in the Santo Nino parish of the poor district, urged those who attended the celebration to include people who died and their families in the prayers.

Philippine church leaders have been vocal in condemning that government's ongoing war against illegal drugs that has so far killed more than 6,000 suspected drug users and peddlers.

 

 

A participant in the annual grand parade in honor of the Child Jesus in Cebu City on Jan. 15 expresses support for the Philippine government's anti-illegal drugs campaign. (ucanews.com photo)

 

Answered prayers

Augustinian Father Pacifico Nohara Jr., rector of the Basilica of the Santo Nino, said the devotion of people is due to the "miracles" that devotees experienced.

"People have given testimonies that their prayers were answered," said the priest.

Father Nohara said the Child Jesus continues to be relevant in the midst of the challenges of modern society.

"Jesus was also a child, and children listen, and this is what endeared him to the devotees. They believe that the Child Jesus continues to listen to them," said the priest.

Filipinos' love for children explains the popular devotion the Child Jesus in the country, said Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila.

"We see this love for children in our families," he said, adding that people identify children with the Child Jesus.

 

Importance of family

In his homily during the celebration in Manila, Bishop Pabillo took the opportunity to remind the faithful to value the family.

"If the family is destroyed the first to suffer are the children," said Bishop Pabillo.

"That's why we are not in favor of divorce (because) that is not the solution to a family that is having problems," he said.

The prelate stressed the importance of the sacrament of matrimony as a "unique grace," adding that marriage is "not just a ceremony or a piece of paper."

Several Philippine legislators have proposed the passage of a law that will allow divorce in the country.

"The challenge for us is this, if we really want to take care of the children, let us strengthen the family, and seek the blessing of God through the sacrament of marriage," said Bishop Pabillo.

Unlike the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, where millions of people go for its religious significance a week earlier, the Sinulog in Cebu is a weeklong religious festival.

Nonreligious activities have been going on for a week even as thousands of people fall in line at the Santo Nino shrine to pray to the Child Jesus.

 


Thousands of devotees of the Santo Nino, or the Child Jesus, attend Mass at the Minor Basilica of the Santo Nino in Cebu City on Jan. 13. (ucanews.com photo)

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