Smooth sailing for Sto. Niño image to Cebu City

The sun shone brightly on the waters of Mactan Channel as the image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu sailed on board a yacht alongside a group of vessels.

Firecrackers were set off when the MV Santo Niño de Cebu, a galleon replica, bearing the image of the Child Jesus left the Ouano Wharf in Mandaue City at 6 a.m.

About 10 Augustinian priests clad in black robes were led by Fr. Jonas Mejares, rector of the Basilica del Santo Niño, in escorting the image.

The fluvial procession was part of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Kaplag or the recovery of the historic icon and the arrival of the Augustinian missionaries in the Philippines.

Men dressed as Spanish soldiers together with this year’s fiesta Hermano and Hermana Mayor Dr. Jose Enrique De Las Peñas and his wife Jill, also accompanied the image of the child Jesus on board the vessel.

Respect
The image traveled by sea for an hour and a half to Pier 1 in Cebu City.

As the yacht carrying the  image of the Sto. Niño   passed by ports,ships sounded their horns in greeting.

Over 20 sea vessels and tugboats, mostly owned by the Philippine Coast Guard, joined the sea procession.

It was preceded by a 4 a.m. Mass presided over by Fr. Mejares at the National Shrine of St. Joseph where the image of the Sto.  Niño stayed overnight.

After the Mass, the icon was carried in a procession to the Ouano Wharf.

Arrival
The  participants were fewer in number than participants of the  fluvial procession held every January for the fiesta, but the  event went on smoothly.

When the image of the Sto. Niño arrived at Pier 1, two Sinulog dance groups in costume-the Cofradia del Santo Niño and the Our Lady of Guadalupe contingent–-paid homage to the child Jesus.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella welcomed the arrival of the image at Pier 1.

A foot procession from the Cebu port area brought the image to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño for a Mass presided by Fr. Eusebio Berdon,  prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of the Santo Niño de Cebu.

Unlike celebrations during the feast of the child Jesus every January, no reenactment was held during the Mass.

The grand reenactment of the Christianization of the Philippines, which began in Cebu City, was instead held in the afternoon with stage lights, music and sinulog dancing.