3.5M people were not fazed by the overwhelming rain last weekend in celebrating the Sinulog Festival. It was also said that this festival bridges the pagan past and the Christian belief of Cebuanos being depicted by dance. According to historians, Sinulog is a dance ritual offered to the miraculous image of Sto. Nino. Long before Magellan arrived in the Philippine shores, Filipinos have already celebrated this ritual to worship anitos and wooden idols. 44 years after, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Cebu and started the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. One of his soldiers, Juan Camus, found an image of Sto. Nino side-by-side with some wooden idols in a box in one of the bombarded huts. It was only then that Filipinos celebrated the festival not for their anitos but in honor of the miraculous image of Sto. Nino. It was not until 1980 that the first ever Sinulog parade was organized by then Regional Director of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development (MYSD) David S. Odilao Jr.
(Miel and I spent the Sinulog weekend shopping in one of the malls here in Cebu. After eating out in The Old Spaghetti House, we came across this fun photo booth and took our pictures. )
