Home
Cebu Travel
Philippines Travel
Culture
Visa
Flights
Maps
Top Hotels
Beach Resorts
NightLife
Scuba Diving
Personals
Real Estate
Health/Wellness
News and Links
Business
Jobs
More Cebu-Blog
Contact Us
Share This Site
About Us
Q & A
Advertise With Us

[?] Subscribe To This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Subscribe with Bloglines

 

Sinulog 2011 in Cebu City

Sinulog 2011 Grand Parade is January 16, 2011 (Sunday)

Of all the festivities that Filipinos celebrate, Sinulog is one of the most popular festivals. The celebration is held in the queen city of the southern part of Philippines, Cebu city.

Thousands of tourists from all over the world visit Cebu City to witness the city’s richest festival. From street dancing to parties, discos, and foods. There is no way you will not feel the spirit and the energy with all the people gathering together dancing and singing. People from different walks of life join together every third Sunday of the month of January to celebrate Sinulog.

sinulog festival

The Sinulog 2011 festival features a street parade with participants in brightly colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan" performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the grand parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog 2011 contest will be held at the Cebu City Sports Complex.

The word Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which is "like water current movement," which describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance. The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of drums. The dance is categorized into Sinulog-base, Free-Interpretation. Candle vendors at the Basilica continue to perform the traditional version of the dance when lighting a candle for the customer, usually accompanied by songs in the native language.

The Sinulog dance steps were believed to originate from Rajah Humabon's adviser, Baladhay. It was during Humabon's grief when Baladhay was driven sick. He then ordered his native tribe to bring Baladhay into a chapel where the Santo Niño was enthroned. Moments later, surprisingly, Baldhay was heard shouting and was found dancing with utmost alertness. Baladhay was questioned as to whether was he awake and was shouting. Baladhay explained that he found a small child, pointing to the image of the Santo Niño, on top of him and trying to wake him up. He, at great astonishment, scared the child away by shouting but couldn't explain why he was dancing the movements of the river. Up to this day, the two-steps forward, and the one-step backward movement dance is still used by the Santo Niño devotees believing that it was the Santo Niño's choice to have Baladhay dance.

The Sinulog festival is one of the grandest and most colorful festivals in the Philippines with a very rich history. The main festival is held to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is essentially a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and their acceptance of Christianity.

Recently, the cultural event has been commercialized as a tourist attraction and instead of traditional street-dancing from locals, Sinulog also came to mean a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is traditionally held in the Cebu City Sports Complex, where most of Cebu’s major provincial events are held.

To know more about Sinulog 2011 and other details like schedule of activities for the festivity, visit its official website through http://www.sinulog.ph/. Experience Sinulog 2011 and be part of history. Viva Pit Senior! (Jade Sanchez)



Add Our Philippines Travel Widget or Link to Your FACEBOOK, Website or Blog


Discount Cebu Philippines Hotels


Cebu Philippines TravelWe publish Philippine travel information regularly to keep you informed and up-to-date concerning travel to the Philippines. Subscribe to our site to receive our regular updates which are available via RSS for daily updates and our monthly newsletter which keeps you informed about the latest happenings. Our goal is to provide you with the most current and relevant Philippines travel information.

Free E-Book
Get this Free E-Book when you subscribe to our newsletter
Enter Your E-mail Address
Enter Your First Name

Don't worry -- your e-mail address is totally secure.
I promise to use it only to send you Sunny Cebu Newsletter.


[?] Subscribe To This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Subscribe with Bloglines



Common Misspellings:
phillipines philipines phils phillipine philipine phillippines phillippine philppines phlippines philipinnes


Share This Site |Contact Us |Privacy Policy |Archive |

Return from Sinulog 2011 in Cebu City to Cebu-Philippines Home page














AddThis Social Bookmark Button