The Feast of the Sto. Niño and the Sinulog hold us together into a diverse amalgam with a single name. This name being Cebu. It is our fiesta. And since its simple celebration decades ago, it has grown over time into something of an uncontainable complexity. And one cannot help but notice the mix of the religious, the political and the commercial into the complex amalgam. It is the complexity which is the most bothersome. The more complex a thing becomes, the more it also becomes unpredictable.
Throughout the noise of revelry, the fireworks, the unending thumping of the drums, and singing, to mark time in the cacophony, one might have missed the unending blare of sirens. Ambulances plied their way through the crawling pace of cars and people walking every which way. And one might have wondered: What do the hospitals look like at this time?
In all this chaos, there are bound to be accidents, traffic accidents, substance overdoses. By morning, the drunk would still be asleep on the sidewalks. And we are bound to see pictures of them in the social networks. This is the morning after the big party, multiracial, multiethnic, multi-influence, multilingual, multi-everything, detritus.
It is some kind of statement about life itself, both beautiful and monstrous. And we must form some kind of reading of the social constructs behind all these.
The historical model is, of course, the ancient Greek Dionysian feast. The books tell us how in ancient classical times, a day was designated wherein the populace indulged in a day of drinking and orgy to give homage to the god of wine. One imagines how that day would have been fundamentally not different from the Sinulog evening party, blaring electric dance music, rave, while all lose themselves into the darkness of flashing party lights.
And yet, over time, one outgrows this aspect of it. A few years of celebrating this way and then the natives lose their taste for it. The native know that if it were only a question of drinking and wild partying they can do that any day and night here in this island. The native become more inclined to leave this sort of revelry to the young, to visitors and tourists, while they mainly play hosts, perhaps to make a profit from all these.
Commerce is, of course, the main driver behind the Sinulog. As it should be. The native must know that if we are to gain profoundly from all these, we ought to put serious thought on how to play the role of host more properly and efficiently. The Sinulog is after all, our collective “international thing.” It is Cebu’s product. It is Cebu’s “brand.” Its current stake in the global future.
And yet, we are often unclear with who is ultimately responsible for the Sinulog. Who is accountable for it? Who accounts, for instance, for the expenses and income? Who does the planning? Who announces the plans to the people so they might plan ahead for what ultimately happens? Is there any one person even who is in control?
The Sinulog is a yearly event bigger than anyone of us. And it will be here even after we have all passed away. And yet, it comes as we all do come from a tradition of ritualism inside an annual cycle.
This annual cycle dates back to the times of the primitives, earlier even than the Christian times. And because of this, it exists inside an inertia of fundamental chaos. The rituals of the ancients were guided by the annual cycles of the seasons. As time progressed, they became mainly rituals falling under the aegis of religious institutions in partnership with the institution of the state. And one observes with the Sinulog this dichotomy of church and state.
This year’s Sinulog was, by existing standards, a success. And yet this success comes, as it always does, dangerously on the heels of chaos. One cannot help but see the need for better rational management in the future.