Revive event’s roots, tradition, Sinulog father says

David ‘Boy’ Odilao shows the copy of the first Sinulog program of activities printed 30 years ago. (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)

Less flash, more substance.

So said David “Boy” Odilao who asked organizers of the annual Sinulog Grand Parade to do away with flashy props and costumes he said tends to sistract from the event’s original purpose which is “veneration and honoring of the Señor Sto. Niño.”

Odilao, acknowledged as the “Father of the Sinulog” for elevating the ancient Cebuano prayer dance to a festival, said participants in the Sinulog Based (SB) category of the dance competition should be required to stick to the traditional dance of two steps forward and one step backward.

When it started in 1980 as a simple students’ parade, dancers wore Filipiniana costumes and brought handkerchiefs and candles as they danced to the beat of drums, said Odilao, who was then director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (MYSD).

Dance variations and the use of huge props should be limited to the Free Interpretation (FI) category, he suggested.

CELEBRATION

“Ug mahimo (If it can be done) let us go back to when we started the Sinulog,” he told Cebu Daily News.

It’s a tall order to downize the Sinulog, which has grown to be the biggest festival in Cebu and a major tourist attraction.

Nevertheless, Odilao said he’s happy with how the festival, now on its 34th year, has grown over the years as the cultural and tourism aspect of Cebu’s religious Fiesta Señor celebration.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and officials of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) opened this year’s festival with a Holy Mass at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño and a street parade from the basilica to the Cebu City Sports Center.

The celebration draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Cebu City every January.

VENERATION

Odilao also recognized that the creation of the Free Interpretatino category of the festival competion “added life” to the event. His only worry, Odilao said, is the possible loss of the true meaning of the celebration.

Now 76 years old, Odilao recalled that he conceptualized the “Sinulog sa Sugbu” in 1980 to give Cebuanos a unique festival to honor the Holy Child that was distinct from other festivals honoring the Sto. Niño like the Ati-Atihan of Kalibo, Aklan and the Dinagyang Festival of Ilo-ilo.

Odilao said he wanted the Sinulog to focus on “veneration”.

CULTURE

Even the Sinulog Sa Carmen in northern Cebu province which came ahead of the Sinulog sa Sugbu is patterned after the Ati-Atihan, he said.

“My intention (in starting the Sinulog) was a revival of the culture that has been there for generations,” Odilao said.

After he helped organize the Bahug-Bahug sa Mactan (Reenactment of the Battle of Mactan) in 1978, Odilao, then the Central Visayas regional director of the MYSD, organized the Sinulog in 1980.

He said it was originally intended as a youth program to promote Cebuano culture and religion.

Odilao gathered elderly Sinulog dancers and drummers in Cebu City to learn from them.

CHOREOGRAPHY

Estelita “Titang” Diola, who passed away last year, had taught generations of dancers the original Cebuano “sin’ug” beat and prayer dance taught to her by her father. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

He himself tried the basic Sinulog footwork of two steps forward and one step backward, to get a feel of the dance.

Odilao said he was never good at dancing or singing and would get low grades in these activities as a student.

To get “Sinulog Sa Sugbu” started, he tapped students of colleges and universities as dancers, and their teachers as choreographers.

Dancers used recycled costumes from the Bahug Bahug sa Mactan for their first Sinulog on Jan. 20, 1980. Odilao said he had to turn over management of the Sinulog to Cebu City Mayor Dodong Solon because of his reassignment as Surigao Customs Collector in 1981.

Though he is no longer involved with organizing the Sinulog, Odilao said he watches the dance competition on the streets or on television.

“I am not a dancer. I am not an artist but I can see the changes. Even the sideways dance in the Sinulog-based category of the contest wasn’t in the Sinulog sa Sugbu,” Odilao said.