January is the peak season for Sto. Nino vendors along D. Jakosalem St. who earn at least P5,000 daily for the repair and dressing up Sto. Nino images. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Lilia Oberes, 68, loves January.
At this time of the year, she earns about P5,000 a day from customers who bring their Sto. Niño icons to be repaired or given new clothes.
Oberes and her husband Carmelino are spending long nights just to finish job orders of those who visit their stall along D. Jakosalem Street, one of several that line the back of the Basilica del Sto. Niño in downtown Cebu City.
The pressure doesn’t bother them, they said, as along as they can deliver, make their customers happy, and earn money for their family.
“Kon January na gani, maka-kwarta gyud mi. Kusog man ang demand. Pero Human sa Fiesta Señor, wala na pud. (When January comes, we really earn well. The demand for our service is high but when the Fiesta Señor is over, it just dies down),” she told Cebu Daily News.
Capes and clothes made of red velvet range from P80 to P5,000 depending on the size of the icon.
For a small 6-inch image, the vestments would cost P80.
For a large 18-inch statuette, a velvet cape and set of inner garments would cost P5,000.
The amount includes repainting and, if needed, repair work.
Oberes used thinner, varnish, and paint to refurbish the images, while she attached lace to the cape using a glue gun.
Gold trim and beads are the usual materials that go with the red velvet cape of the Sto. Niño.
Oberes, a native of Naga City in south Cebu, said they only make red clothes following the traditional attire of the Sto. Niño as advised by the Augustinian fathers of the basilica.
Red is the color of nobility and represents Jesus’ passion and blood which He shed to save mankind and is a color
While dressing up an image of the Sto. Niño, Oberes said she would whisper a prayer for her family.
“Mangayo ko niya og grasya, nga unta duna mi makaon matag adlaw, tabangan mi niya sa among panginahanglan, og tagaan og maayong panglawas. (I ask the Sto. Niño to give my family something to eat every day, help us in our needs and grant us good health),” she said.
Oberes, who has two children, has been selling images and vestments of the Sto. Niño outside the basilica for 35 years.
She said she will use whatever they earn to buy the needs of the family and to pay for debts.