Sinulog Festival, or Santo Niño Festival as it is also called, is an intense and colourful festival held in Cebu City every January. While we missed the big festival, we got the chance to experience a smaller version on the island of Malapascua.
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What is the Sinulog festival?
Sinulog festival (Santo Niño Festival) is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City. Smaller versions of the festival are also organised in some other locations in the Philippines.
The celebration is part of Catholic Christianity and is done in honour of Santo Niño, the baby Jesus. According to historical accounts, the inhabitants of Cebu performed similar dances in their animist religion even before they became Christians, and the dance then became part of the Catholic tradition.
During the festival, icons of the baby Jesus can be seen, recalling the baptismal gift given by the Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan to Hara Humamay, Queen of Cebu, in April 1521. The image, believed to be miraculous, is now housed in the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in the centre of Cebu City.
Sinulog festival in Cebu
The Sinulog Festival in Cebu, nicknamed 'the biggest festival in the Philippines', is a colourful celebration that attracts millions of visitors every year. During the festival, you can see long dancing festival trains, with fantastically ornate dancers, travelling through the city. We missed this festival, as it happened just before we arrived in the Philippines, but our friends Micke and Julia were there. Here we show two of their photos.
Sinulog festival on Malapascua
Even though we missed the big Sinulog festival in Cebu, we were lucky. A few days after we arrived on the island of Malapascua, it was time for the Sinulog festival on Malapascua. This is of course a much smaller version, but it was still fun to take part in.
In Malapascua, the Sinolug festival was organised on a basketball court in the city centre. Instead of long trains, each group performed their dance in the centre of the court, surrounded by a large and enthusiastic audience.
Everyone dances to the same rhythmic music and does similar steps, although everyone does their own version of the dance.
At the front there is always one person dancing in front of the others, while this person moves an icon of the Santo Niño (baby Jesus) in front of the other dancers.
In some cases, the dancer with the baby Jesus also has a partner, or a child, with her.
Some groups varied by starting with a small theatre play. We don't know if we always understood the play correctly, but it could, for example, start with a terrible storm, or a typhoon, which left the actors knocked out on the ground. When the lead dancer came in with the baby Jesus, everyone came to life and started dancing ...
Apart from being carried away by the rhythmic (and hugely repetitive...) drumming, it was fun to look at all the colourful and beautiful clothes. Although the Sinulog festival in Malapascua is, of course. enormously less than the big festival in Cebu, it was still really fun to watch.
More to see and do in Malapascua
There is, of course, much more to see and do on the glorious city centre. Malapascua Island in the Philippines. Many people come here to sunbathe and swim, enjoy the peace and quiet, and go on boat trips, snorkelling and not least diving.
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Have you experienced Sinulog?
Have you experienced the Sinulog festival in Cebu, or elsewhere in the Philippines? How was your experience? Please tell us!
Facts about Sinulog festival
- Location: Cebu City (Smaller variants are held both within Cebu such as in Carmen and outside Cebu, such as in Tondo, Manila.
- Timing: The third Sunday in January (outside of Cebu City, the timing may vary slightly).
- Religious significance: Sinulog is a ritual prayer dance honouring Señor Santo Niño (Baby Jesus).
- The meaning of the word: The word Sinulog comes from "sulog" which roughly means "like the movement of a water stream", describing the forward-backward dance movements.
- In: The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, to the sound of drums. The dance can be divided into Sinulog bass, free interpretation and street dance.
- Read more: You can find more information at tourist office website.
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Amanda (Swedish Passport) says:
Many thanks for an incredibly interesting and instructive post! 🙂
11 February 2023 - 8:39
Helena says:
Glad it was appreciated! 🙂
12 February 2023 - 0:05
Lena+i+Wales+och+Spanien says:
Interesting festival and such beautiful costumes.
I've been away and haven't followed for a while. Are you still in the Philippines?
Have a nice weekend!
11 February 2023 - 10:58
Helena says:
Yes, we are on a long trip in the Philippines! We will be here for three months and the plan is, among other things, to go on a long boat trip between islands with a Philippine boat 🙂.
12 February 2023 - 0:06
BP says:
Interesting and very beautiful behaviour. Considering that the Philippines is exposed to natural disasters at regular intervals (latest 2022), I understand that they somehow want to remind of the tsunami in their behaviour. I guess it is somehow to "persuade" God/Jesus to spare the Philippines from more natural disasters.
11 February 2023 - 17:47
Lena - gott för själen says:
So delicious to get to experience something like that, even if it was a slightly smaller version. I remember a "jippo" in Hawaii too (mid-80s), with dancers and some kind of spectacle. So cool and so different.
Hug Lena
13 February 2023 - 16:39