Sinulog Festival

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. The word Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which is "like water current movement," which describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance. The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of drums. The dance is categorized into Sinulog-base, Free-Interpretation. Candle vendors at the Basilica continue to perform the traditional version of the dance when lighting a candle for the customer, usually accompanied by songs in the native language.The festival honors the child Jesus, known as the Santo Niño (Holy Child), patron of the city of Cebu. It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Christianity.The festival features a street parade with participants in bright-colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets, and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate, and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan", performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the grand parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is usually held in the Cebu City Sports Complex. The Sinulog celebration traditionally lasts for nine days, culminating on the final day with the Sinulog Grand Parade. The day before the parade, the Fluvial Procession is held at dawn with the Santo Niño carried on a pump boat from Mandaue City to Cebu City, decked with hundreds of flowers and candles. The procession ends at the Basilica where a re-enactment of the Christianizing of Cebu is performed. In the afternoon, a more solemn procession takes place along the major streets of the city, which last for hours due to large crowd participating in the event. On the feast day at the Basilica, a Pontifical Mass is celebrated by the Cardinal with the assistance of several bishops of Cebu. Most devotees go to the Basilica to attend the mass before heading out to the streets to watch the parade.

Filipino Beliefs and Superstitions

Folk beliefs, otherwise known as "superstitious beliefs", form part of a people's value system and culture. They basically reflect the customs, traditions, and mores of a group, which may be based on religious beliefs, opinions, old or popular practices. Filipinos have a number of folk beliefs about life, family, luck, wealth, etc.. The Tagalog terms for folk beliefs and superstitions are: paniniwala (beliefs), kasabihan ng mga matatanda (what the old people say), and pamahiin (superstitions). There are many Filipino superstitions, some of these might be out dated but at one time there were such things as; A serpent either carved into, painted, or hanging near the door to their home, would protect against hostile spirits. Also the gecko was considered lucky, and to have one living and hunting insects on your bedroom ceiling meant you were blessed. To have two geckoes living and thriving on your bedroom ceiling meant you were doubly blessed. Having one in your home was lucky, but to have him living in your bedroom is what was the key to the importance here. Many were certain that lunacy was caused by demons, and might even have happened in some cases because of the pattern the mother was sweeping her hut (home) while pregnant. Some beliefs in giving gifts to your beloved: No handkerchiefs please - You can give your sweetheart a handkerchief as a gift, but it will only make her cry. No pointed/sharp objects please - Engaged couples should not exchange pointed or sharp objects as gifts, or this would lead to a broken engagement. These are just some examples as what i heard from the elder people. Nowadays, we can rarely hear about these beliefs but when we ask things like this to our grandparents, surely a lot of superstitious beliefs they can share.

Christmas Carolers

Caroling is a part of the Filipino Christmas tradition. Celebrating Christmas with the traditional Christmas caroling, especially the children - going from house to house singing Christmas carols. Makeshift instruments include tamburines made with tansans (aluminum bottle caps) strung on a piece of wire. With the traditional chant of "Namamasko po!", these carolers wait expectantly for the homeowners to reward them with coins. After being rewarded, the carolers thank the owner by singing "Thank you, thank you, ang babait ninyo (you are so kind), thank you!". When i was a kid, me, my friends and my cousins had fun doing christmas caroling. We visits every houses in our neighborhood and sing christmas songs. Doesn't matters, out of tune or not! Sometimes, we need to wake up in the middle of the night because we hear, carolers who are singing in front of our house. There are also group of carolers visit houses to sing Christmas songs. Some of these carolers raise funds for less fortunate families through caroling, while others are simply doing it for the joy of singing. Some carolers may be a group of friends, or belong to the same community or civic organization. Others may be family relatives who have made it a tradition to sing together as a family. Today, only a few doing Christmas caroling and i miss the fun of those years.

An Example of a Filipino Trait

In the Philippines, the people have a lot of traits to be followed from their elders. One of those traits is doing "mano". Upon arriving home, families expect children to practice the kissing of hands or placing their parents or elder family members’ hand to their foreheads with the words “mano po” as a sort of greeting. In return they will say "kaawaan ka ng Diyos" which means God Bless you. This is one thing that my american boyfriend noticed when he visited me here in the Philippines. He asked me what i was doing when i get the hand of my grandfather when we arrived at his house. I told him it's one sign of respect to elder people here in Philippines. It is good that we can know the difference from other countries specially on the traits that we have in our own country.