Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

January 18, 2009
By bloggista

sinulog sto nino 250x176 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog FestivalThe Cebu Sinulog Festival is an annual mardi gras of colorful costumes and pomp street dancing, in commemoration of the time when the first Filipinos embraced Christianity, or Catholicism to be specific.

This happened in Cebu, Philippines way back in 1521, when the great Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived and planted the cross on the shores. It was said that when Magellan presented an image of the baby boy Jesus (the Sto. Nino image) to the island’s ruler, Rajah Humabon and his wife Hara Amihan, the natives performed their dance ritual.

Thus the basis of what is today’s Sinulog street dancing -- with participants in various costumes all in vibrant colors, matched with a lively beat of music (check out the video, a great youtube find -- kudos to  Jerrold Tarog who made this). The Sinulog dance step is easy to follow -- two steps forward and one step backward, and a few steps to the left and right movement.

The best Sinulog Short Documentary Film I’ve ever seen!

More Sinulog Photos after the jump!

The Cebu Sinulog Festival draws tens of thousands of visitors from the Philippines and the rest of the world. It is actually a 9-day festival, with solemn novena processions, fluvial parade at the Cebu-Mactan strait, Miss Sinulog pageant, street dancing contests in different categories and many more.

It’s a different experience when you’re actually part of the fun and merry-making. When I was small, my family used to put up a big bleacher along Jones Avenue, where we could easily watch every dancing contingent that passed by.

So if you want to experience Sinulog as well, better block out the third (3rd) Sunday next year and book an early flight and hotel accommodation in Cebu.

Check out these cool photos of the Sinulog Festival (these are photos from the 2008 Sinulog). More on http://www.flickr.com/photos/sinulog/.

sinulog 1st daniel ybanez sidelights 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 1st erwin lim 12x18 178x250 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 4th fluvial jannet datan 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 4th venecio cio datan 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

sinulog 5th mikhail arrogante 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 8th fluvial category christopher colinares 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 9th alex badayos 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 9th mikhail arrogante 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

sinulog arnold aranjuez 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog regel zamora 4th float 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog tezon melvin d 1st float 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festivalsinulog 4th contingent lcleofas pacl2161 150x150 Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

Photo Credits: cebudaily.com and sinulog.ph

Sinulog Themes: Listen to the Sinulog beat!

Click here: Sinulog Drum Beat

Check out myMusicnook.com for more Sinulog beats

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Facebook
  • TwitThis
  • Digg
  • YahooBuzz
  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Blogjoints
  • Mixx
  • Bloglines
  • Technorati
  • Propeller
  • Furl
  • NewsVine
  • Sphinn
  • YahooMyWeb
  • MisterWong
  • email Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

12 Responses to Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival

  1. Blogjoints.com Trackback | Rate this Article on January 18, 2009 at 9:55 pm

    Viva Pit Senor: The Cebu Sinulog Festival | Sinulog Videos and Photos | Bloggista.com…

    The Cebu Sinulog Festival draws tens of thousands of visitors from the Philippines and the rest of the world. It is actually a 9-day festival, with solemn novena processions, fluvial parade at the Cebu-Mactan strait, Miss Sinulog pageant, street dancin…

  2. Ambo on January 19, 2009 at 1:33 am

    Medyo napaaga ako sa Cebu nung December 26-29 andun ako sayang! Di bale next time sana makaattend ako. Andun ka ba?

    • bloggista on January 19, 2009 at 12:35 pm

      Wasn’t able to go bro, pretty tied up with so many things at the office. Maybe next year, perhaps we can all plan next year’s trip early. Hehe.

  3. Roy on January 19, 2009 at 8:12 am

    dito ka ba nagpunta ung nagpahinga ka bro?

    thanks! received the paypal payment! ;)

    Roy´s last blog post..It pays to be offline

    • bloggista on January 19, 2009 at 12:38 pm

      Hindi bro eh. Talagang pahinga lang yun. Goodluck on your new domain. :-) . Maybe you can go with us next year. It’s a different experience – even not religiously, just the festivities.

      Good thing I found a YouTube video that exactly shows what you would experience in the actual Sinulog. Even just looking at the videos, it gave me goosebumps and nostalgic feelings. :-)

  4. Roy on January 19, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    okay yan bro! sana nga next year kumikita na tayo para may funds tayo for the trip, :)

    Roy´s last blog post..It pays to be offline

  5. Ceblogger on January 19, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    I last watched the Sinulog live 16 years ago pa, when we were yet ROTC cadets.

    Never watched it since then.

    Ceblogger´s last blog post..The Best Football Players In The World Today

    • bloggista on January 19, 2009 at 11:08 pm

      LOL – i remembered during that time, one of the duties being an ROTC cadet is to help the city govt on “crowd control” during Sinulog. We were usually stationed in Mango Ave. I’m not sure if the street parade still pass by that route.

  6. reyna elena on January 19, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    naku roel! when i was assigned in cebu doing audit and everything, dahil nga dami naming clients there, i was able to attend this pit senor 2 or 3 times siguro and it was uber fun. the 1st one ko was uber shocking saken with so many people.

    meron din kami sa bicol, penafrancia but never attended one dahil an dami tao dun and one time, tragedy nang tragedy dun pero etong pit senor is really beautiful and i could see na mas improved na kamo sila these days

    • bloggista on January 19, 2009 at 11:16 pm

      Just like Ceblogger, it’s been a while since I watched it. Maybe next year let’s al go there – LOL, gawa tayo social network tapos set natin event. Wahehe.

  7. arbee on January 20, 2009 at 1:42 am

    I miss going to the streets of Cebu and dance to this very familiar beat. I used to join that parade when I was still in Cebu. My school was on of the contingents for the parade few years back.

    I miss this festivity. It never fails to be remarkable.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

BLOGGISTA ON FACEBOOK

Sponsors

  • Philippines Web Hosting

Recent Readers