Sinulog Festivals has always been a part of Cebu City's yearly grand event. I live near Osmena Blvd. which is the center of this event. I have always heard about the history of this event and up until now i still love to hear and watch presentations of it it begun.
The explorer, Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Cebu on April 28, 1565 and destroyed the village ruled by Rajah Tupas. In one of the huts of the burning village, one of Legazpi's soldiers named Juan Camus found a wooden box containing the image of the Santo Niño lying in the middle of several native statue. Historians later said that during the 44 years between the coming of Magellan and Legazpi, the natives of Cebu continued to dance the Sinulog but no longer to worship their anitos but to show their worship to the Santo Niño.
The Augustinian friars that accompanied Legazpi in his expedition proclaimed the statue miraculous and built a church on the site where it was found. Th e church was called San Agustin Church but was later renamed to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño.
After Juan Camus found the Santo Niño in the burning village, Legazpi was said to have included the event in his report, entitled "Relation of Voyage to the Philippine Islands." It went as follows:
"… Your Excellency should know that on that day when we entered this village (Cebu), one of the soldiers went into a large and well-built house of an indio where he found an image of the Child Jesus (whose most holy name I pray may be universally worshipped). This was kept in its cradle, all covered with gold, just as if it were brought from Spain: and only the little cross, which is generally placed upon the globe in his hands, was lacking. The image was well kept in that house, and many flowers were found before it, and no one knows for what object or purpose. The soldier bowed down before it with all reverence and wonder, and brought the image to the place where the other soldiers were. I pray to the Holy Name of his image, which we found here, to help us and to grant us victory, in order that these lost people who are unaware of the precious and rich treasure, which was in their custody, may come to a knowledge of Him."
The Augustinian friars that accompanied Legazpi in his expedition proclaimed the statue miraculous and built a church on the site where it was found. Th e church was called San Agustin Church but was later renamed to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño.
After Juan Camus found the Santo Niño in the burning village, Legazpi was said to have included the event in his report, entitled "Relation of Voyage to the Philippine Islands." It went as follows:
"… Your Excellency should know that on that day when we entered this village (Cebu), one of the soldiers went into a large and well-built house of an indio where he found an image of the Child Jesus (whose most holy name I pray may be universally worshipped). This was kept in its cradle, all covered with gold, just as if it were brought from Spain: and only the little cross, which is generally placed upon the globe in his hands, was lacking. The image was well kept in that house, and many flowers were found before it, and no one knows for what object or purpose. The soldier bowed down before it with all reverence and wonder, and brought the image to the place where the other soldiers were. I pray to the Holy Name of his image, which we found here, to help us and to grant us victory, in order that these lost people who are unaware of the precious and rich treasure, which was in their custody, may come to a knowledge of Him."
Since 1521, loyalty to the Santo Niño has grown and has taken root in Filipino popular holiness, particularly in the Visayas; pilgrims from different parts of Cebu and the rest of the Philippines make their yearly journey to the Basilica to take part in the procession and fiesta. Starting in 1980, the Cebu City government organized the Sinulog Mardi Gras and eventually gave incentives to dance groups.
