“Sinulog goes global” is this year’s theme of the Sinulog festivities, and the organizers of the annual homage to the Holy Child Jesus could not have found a more fitting idea for the 2016 celebration.
The global peg to the celebration, according to Ricky Ballesteros, executive director of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), organizer of the Sinulog, is rather obvious — a way of integrating the “sense” of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) to the cultural festivities.
I hope to hear the Archdiocesan clergy provide a theological thread to the IEC and its impact on the more than 450 years of Catholic worship as shown by our devotion to the Sto. Niño.
The IEC takes place a week after the Sinulog, but there will be a number of pre-IEC events that will already unfold three days after the city fiesta. I wonder how many pre-registered IEC delegates are coming early in order to catch the Sinulog action. I think the 2016 Sinulog will be breaking records in attendance and business turnover.
This year, Cebu City Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama is not the politician in the center because he is under suspension, but I don’t think it would be the end of the world for Mayor Mike.
Sure, he won’t be at the head of official activities, but as someone who is at home in celebrations whether it is in a barangay capilla or a metropolitan dome, he will not let the 2016 Sinulog pass without making his presence felt. Who knows, he may have turned up in today’s dawn procession and join the ocean of people in the first day of the novenario at the Pilgrim Center of the Basilica del Sto. Niño.
The mayor is a typical Cebuano, one who regularly attends Catholic feasts. I just hope he does not call too much attention to himself because it will surely backfire. People are turned off when politicians make a spectacle in religious events, especially if they bring with them a horde of photographers and news reporters.
On the other hand, perhaps Mike should look beyond his suspension from office and look at the possibilities of what this break from the routine could bring.
I was at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño last Monday to assess materials related to a documentary project, and I happened to visit the Sto. Niño Museum at the back of the Pilgrim Center. The museum artifacts consisting of Sto. Niño vestments, images, including valuable items and toys offered by grateful devotees are very worthwhile to look and see.
Maribel Enemido, who is in charge of the museum in the absence of the curator, gave me a brief tour of the modest edifice. The Augustinian Order has tried to research on the provenance of each vestment and image on display, but most items were left by anonymous donors.
Maribel is a native of Argao, whose parents and siblings are devoted to the Sto. Niño as far as she can remember. She recalls with fondness her grandmother who exposed them to simple acts of faith, like traveling long distances and scrimping on household expenses just to save money for transportation in going to the city for the annual religious fiesta.
What makes Maribel very happy around this time is to be able to witness the changing of the vestments of the original icon in a quiet rite known as “Hubo”. This ceremony happens less than a week after the fiesta celebration. Only a handful of people are able to attend this closed-door ceremony — the hermano and hermana mayor, the camarera or dressmaker and Maribel as representative of the lay community of the Augustinian Order.
Maribel considers this a signal honor and she tells me it makes her proud and keeps her always happy at work.
Some people pursue wealth and glory, but for this museum keeper, happiness is to quietly witness a ceremony that is almost shut off from the rest of the world.
The story reminds me of an article I recently shared on social media, part of which I’m going to improvise for the sake of the suspended mayor: “Being happy is not just commemorating the event because it comes with a place of importance but also having joy in anonymity.”