Viva Señor Sto. Niño!

Yesterday we celebrated Sinulog Festival which is annually celebrated as a religious and cultural festival in Cebu, Philippines.

If you want to know more about SINULOG you can read it here https://guidetothephilippines.ph/articles/history-culture/sinulog-festival-cebu-guide

I choose not to celebrate the festival in City because I don't want to add to the crowd of people in the city and I don't think I can walk very far just to have fun because this year the venue of the ritual dance for the festival is very far away unlike before that its easy to access transportation when you want to wander and joined the celebration.

But the day before the main celebration came after my night shift I ask my partner to come to the City in the early morning so we can go to the church where we can worship and light some candles just to show respect and give thanks for Sr. Santo Niño since both I and my partner is Catholic and we are devoted to our religion.

Right after my shift, I pack up my things and we head to our destination. The first stop is what we call the place Fuente Osmeña Circle this is the place where vehicles are only allowed to drop off passengers.

Every Sinulog festival Fuente is a very well-known site so even if we can not see how it is more beautiful and joyous at night time I just don't want to miss taking a photo of this beautiful site where an image of our Saint is adorned in different styles. I just can't take a decent photo since visitors are flocking into the area even though the main celebration will be the next day.

While we walk heading to the church honestly was very tiring because I think it's more than 2 kilometers but from Fuente you can never feel tired because of the happiness you can see on people's faces while dancing, chanting, and just enjoying the surroundings.

A few meters away from our main destination which is the church we are caught by the huge congestion of people because the original holy image of baby Niño was started to procession so many devotees from different parts of the Philippines respect by joining the prayers on different sides of the streets.

Finally, after fighting the crowd we arrived at the church and the famous Magellan Cross and so we immediately bought candles to light but since there were a lot of devotees we are not allowed to light the candles instead we just have to drop the candles while giving solemn prayers for what we would like to thank or ask to the image of the baby Jesus we call Señor St. Ñino.

After doing some prayers we decided to go back walking to find a vehicle to take where my partner left his motorcycle and head home to the province where my kids are. I just decided to spend my rest day here because I guess I missed my kids very much and I rather take a rest than hang out then on the following day I will have my night shift job with a very tired body.

It's a kind of a waste because I didn't witness the joy of the actual festival this year, but it's okay because I also saw some live highlights of the activities. I know that respect for the Lord is not measured by whether you are there in his place but by believing in the core of your heart no matter where you are. Maybe next year I will be joining the celebration in the City with the whole family if the time will allow us 🙏.

So that's it for today guys! Now, I'm currently preparing myself to head back to the City again for work later. I just wish everyone a happy day and stay safe ahead 😊.