The recent Sinulog celebration in Cebu, Philippines was the biggest in History so far.

See more at PinoyCentric.com

Photo: Noah C. Omamalin

Powered by ScribeFire.

Devotees of the Santo Niño de Cebu headed by Lou Pamplona held the 20th Anniversary of their Chicagoland celebrations on Saturday, January 19 at the Saint Catherine LaBoure church in Glenview, Illinois.

The traditional novena kicked off the festivities followed by a concelebrated mass led by Fr. Leoncio Santiago. The capacity crowd (despite the subzero temps outside) then moved on to the adjacent Marian Hall where sumptuous early dinner was served by a tireless squad of volunteers. We managed to shoot the first few of the dances but regretfully had to leave for another coverage. As a first time attendee, we would say this has to be one of the most beautiful and well-organized Pinoy events in the area. Kudos to the team. Don’t miss it next time. Pit Señor![ABF]

View the slide show

Related site: Zanorteans Attend Sinulog sa Chicago

Around the world, Pinoys are celebrating the Feast of Santo Nino. Here’s one from Germany:

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of Santo Nino at Saint Martin Church in Offenburg. Its already the fifth year that we’re celebrating the Sinulog Fest and I’m proud to say that I never missed a single year. Fr. Louie Collantes officiated the mass, followed by a short procession of our Virgin Mary and images of Santo Nino.

Read more of Feast of Santo Nino
Photo from Cool Mom An2nette

Powered by ScribeFire.

Here’s a blog of Miss C.N.W. on her daily take of life and Santo Niño de Atocha

One of the things I hope to do while I do my clean-a-thon is try to fix the statues and framed pictures we have around the house. As promised in my blog yesterday, I am going to post a picture of the little statue we have of the Santo Niño de Atocha. I had totally forgotten that we had it in storage because it had been pretty battered during the ‘94 Northridge Earthquake and it was out for a few years longer before we decided to store and later fix it up… which is what I intend to do someday soon. And, I actually have a little story, well, stories… about the statue of Santo Niño de Atocha and one of St. Jude Thaddeus, so gather ’round, kids.

Read more of Journey of a Catholic Nerd Writer

The Sinulog Foundation, Inc., in cooperation with the Cebu City Government and Cebu Filmmakers’ Society, Inc. brings you The Sinulog 2008 Short Film Festival! Join us as we move on to a higher level of excitement and opportunities!We’re getting bigger! Be with us in embracing a wider scope of a more challenging experience.

Aside from the Video Documentary Competition, we are now including entries for the Sinulog Short Film! Tell us your point of view, or better yet share your actual personal experience with the Señor Santo Niño’s miraculous power that has affected and changed your life! You, too, can be an instrument in changing other people’s lives!

Read more on The Sinulog 2008 Short Film Festival

Powered by ScribeFire.

The worshipping community of Mission Santo Nino de Atocha in Tecolote may be small, but their faith is strong. Nestled in the midst of mesquite trees and brush land about 10 miles north of Alice on Highway 281, a committed group gathered Nov. 18 for a community milestone, the ground breaking of their new church, Today is truly a wonderful day, said Johnny Vela, one of the original members of the faith community who began meeting in homes and even an abandoned dance hall in the 1980s.

The grass roots desire to meet in their own community was originally helped along by now-retired Deacon Candido DeAnda, who served out of Orange Grove. Eventually the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Alice was assigned pastoral leadership and acquired an old house which was moved to Tecolote, refurbished and dedicated as the Santo Nino de Atocha Mission in 1992.

Read more Dreams of new church in Tecolote becoming a reality
Photo by South Texas Catholic Paper

Powered by ScribeFire.

The Dia de la Candelaria (Day of the Candles) is a big feast in Mexico. It differs from the Candle Mass in the United States because during this Mass not only the Candles get blessed but also the Baby Jesus from the crib. In Mexico this has been celebrated since the Colonial times. This celebration also changes according to every ethnic group and region who gives the Celebration the characteristics proper to their culture.

Basically, the Dia de la Candelaria (Day of the Candles) the Godparents (in some places it will be the same people who sang the Baby Jesus to sleep on the night of the 24th, in some other places it will be the ones who found the Baby Jesus in the Rosca de Reyes or Kings cake) must go to the house of the “owners” of the Baby Jesus, to dress him and to take him to Church to be presented, just like Mary and Joseph did with Jesus, forty days after he was born. The first year the Baby Jesus is dressed in white to represent El nino de las Palomas (The Child of the Doves) or El Nino de las Azucenas (The Child of the White Lillies), which signifies the purity of his being.

Read more Dia de la Candelaria, a Mexican Tradition

Photo courtesy of The story of a vocation

Powered by ScribeFire.

In the Philippines, Christmas starts early. The continuous jingles, the flashing lights, the winter decor - yes, even in this tropical nation - all get going as soon as the leaves turn color in the United States.

In September, when many Americans cringe at the sight of Halloween candy hitting store shelves, on the other side of the world, Filipinos prepare to welcome the Christ child, or Santo Niño, into their homes. And they couldn’t be happier.

Read more For Bay Area Filipinos, Christmas is about welcoming
Photo SFGate.com / Paul Chin / Chronicle

Since 1986, a miraculous Santo Niño White has been doing a great many miracles, from healing various diseases (stroke, diabetes, high blood, congenital heart disease, STD, skin diseases, cancer of all kinds, crippled, disabled, brain defects and many different types of maladies we humans have not ever known or heard of before) to driving away evil spirits, healing our weary souls, telling prophecies and a lot more wonderful miracles we might think impossible but for hundreds and hundreds of living witnesses who have seen these things before their eyes continue their unyielding devotion to Santo Niño White.

More on Santo Niño White at youtube.

Powered by ScribeFire.

A proud mom shares her family’s tradition of celebrating Christmas.

“Merry Christmas!”We would all exclaim as the clock struck twelve midnight on Christmas Eve. Just then, our uncle would play “Merry Christmas Polka” on the LP player. We would all dance and sing around, “Come on and dance the Merry Christmas Polka…” for some good ten minutes until we’ve danced around with everyone. Laughter, singing, and so much love filled the air.

After the final replay of the song was done, all of us - my grandparents, together with my dad’s eight brothers and sisters, and their families - would gather by the altar and sing…

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you

On the altar was a well-dressed image of the Child Jesus (Santo Nino)…

Read more: Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Diana Ramirez saw a shredded picture of the Virgin Mary pieced together with tape. A cracked, glued statue of Santo Nino de Atocha — a Roman Catholic depiction of the infant Jesus — stood atop a dresser.

She suspected the items came from a nearby dump, where many so-called “ragpickers” forage for recyclable items to sell, such as aluminum cans, copper wire and glass bottles.

It was December, and 2 inches of snow coated the ground outside this home in Juarez, Mexico. Inside, a middle-age mother and her two sons fought the chill biting them through broken windows.

Red more: Local group helps the poor in Juarez, Mexico

Zuni girl with jar by Curtis, Edward S., circa 1903

Each morning Missy Yatsattie rises, she has a task to perform, a duty that was bestowed upon her through generations of her family on her mother’s side.Since the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, one family has been responsible for the care of an 18-inch wooden statue that was rescued before the missions were destroyed.Santo Nino, or Baby Saint, has been kept at the same home since 1690 when the Zuni people returned to Halona after escaping to Thunder Mountain following the revolt.

Now Yatsattie needs help to make repairs on the home of the Santo Nino, where she also lives to care for the statue. Last month Yatsattie walked 23 miles to raise funds to repair the adobe wall and the roof of the home. Earlier this month, she held a raffle. She also is planning another walk like one that raised nearly $400, most of which came from the Zuni people.

The Santo Nino is sacred to both the Catholics and the Zunis. For the Catholics, he is seen as a powerful figure because he represents Jesus in his most innocent stage – as a baby.

For the Zuni, the Santo Nino is actually a female – the daughter of the sun. Both attribute various miracles to the Santo Nino in past centuries.

Find out more at: News from Indian Country

Religious processions, introduced over four hundred years ago by our Spanish conquistadors, were held to mark the important feast days of our Christian religious calendar. The Lenten season, Christmas and town fiestas were major causes for ceremonials, and a holy procession, with all its pomp and pa geantry, was essential to these celebrations.

The first documented procession was held to commemorate the recovery of the Santo Nino at Cebu, from a fire set by local villagers as they retreated from Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s advancing forces. It was, in fact, a very simple affair: the santo was transported on foot from the San Agustin church to the site where it was found, followed by a throng of citizens assembled by the town councilor or regidor. This was followed by a host of festivities like bullfights, dance balls and fireworks display.

Accounts abound of early processions that were characterized by opulence that matched a people’s religious fervor. A Lumban, Laguna procession in the 1600, for instance, was described by Franciscan Felix de la Huerta as featuring decorations of pure gold and diamonds from affluent residents of nearby Nagcarlan, Majayjay and Liliw. Carrozas of rattan were encrusted with more gold and precious stones while lamps that lit the parade weighed 75 pounds. The Dominican celebration of La Naval, which commemorates the 17th century Spanish-Filipino victory against the Dutch, was held with Our Lady of the Rosary as the focal point of the procession. Borne on a flower-bedecked silver carroza, the image was processioned around Intramuros and back, with barefoot penitents in attendance. The 17th century Mexican-made image of Nuestro Padre Jesus de Nazareno, the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, has His own processions conducted every January 9, with Manila’s menfolk coming in droves to bear the santo on their shoulders. Semana Santa processions of old are often the most dramatic, with a long parade of life-size santos and complex tableaus, visualizing the events of the Passion.

Alex R. Castro

Learn more at his site, “Views from the Pampang“

All are invited to attend the opening ceremonies and Holy Mass tomorrow Jan.18 5pm at the Philippine National Bank (PNB), D. Macapagal Ave. behind the World Trade Center near Roxas Blvd.

Novena Masses will be held until Jan. 26 at 7pm with various well-known priest-celebrants. This year’s theme is about Saints with Sto. devotion. You may also exhibit your images and join the Grand Procession to be held on Jan.28, Feast of the Santisimo Nombre del Nino Jesus, Patron of the Congregacion del Stmo. Nombre del Nino Jesus, starting around 2pm until 8pm, from the Philtrade grounds in Roxas Blvd. to the Luneta Grandstand. As of last night 140 images have registered for the exhibit so far, and around 100 carrozas for the procession. Entrance to the exhibit is free from 9am-8pm! It again will be a showcase of religiosity and culture. Have a grand time taking photos of more than 100 Sto. Nino images and the beautiful altar set-up for the event.

by dennis_raymondm

Originally posted at Santo Nino Online/FLICKR

Let me introduce myself and our group here in Leicester, UK. We will be celebrating our 6th Fiesta Señor on the 20th of January 2007 (eve of the feast in Cebu). I guess there are more groups here in the UK. It would be good if all these groups can be linked up…and so we are trying, and we can only try and pray, that people will support our initiative starting with an ammateur website: www.freewebs.com/stoninoleics and an egroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stoninoleics/.

Peter Zabala
Communications
Santo Niño Leicester

One Dance, One Beat, One Vision.
Sinulog is a dance ritual in honor of the miraculous image of the Santo Niño. The dance moves two steps forward and one step backward to the sound of the drums. This movement resembles the current (Sulog) of what was known as Cebu’s Pahina River. Thus, in Cebuano, they say it’s Sinulog.

It was a rainy day but nothing can stop the contingents from performing. The show must go on! Cebu City Sports Complex, Abellana National High School, Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines

A sea of devotees on the 5th day Novena at the Basilica Minore de Santo Nino in Cebu.

Photography by Marvin Maning
View his photos on FLICKR

THE FILIPINO AMERICAN COUNCIL OF GREATER CHICAGO

invites you to

“PARANGAL KAY STO. NIÑO”

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Dr. Jose Rizal Heritage Center

1332 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL. 60613 {Read more…}

I was staying in Boracay and they had a small Ati-Atihan celebration for the Fiesta de los Reyes. There was an open air mass and the front of the altar was decorated with peoples Sto Niños from their home altars (see photo!). At the end of the mass everyone was taking their Sto Niños from the altar and I saw this particular one which grabbed my attention because of its unusual dress, and so got the snap of the image and its owner

Brown Scapular
© All rights reserved
View his photo on FLICKR

By Kathleen Bell

This little statue has been my favorite since I found it three years ago. It came to me in a jumbled box lot from an estate sale. Look at it closely and it is a reassembled puzzle glued together after a bad break. The neck and the base and back have been repaired. The statue was quite dark with dirt when I found it, but has been cleaned just this side of falling apart. It is Portuguese and the eyes are made of glass, giving it a kind and sympathetic countenance. It sits on top of my desk in my writing space in the basement.

Alas, not for me the window view for writing. I do best in my spot underneath the living room, where I can hear the children going about their treks, their games, their cooking. It was many years before I grabbed onto the notion of a place of my own to write. I do it best right here, where disturbance is minimal.

This little statue reminds me of my nephew Jimmy, who looked a lot like this when he was a tiny boy. It’s a sweet religious image. So approachable. Since I understand children, it is so easy for me to pray wrapped in this devotion. I just talk and tell Jesus what I need and I pray for my family, my friends, one by one. It’s conversational and very Filipino. It comes from the heart and not from the detached intellect. It’s a conversation, not a meditation. It’s full of pleas and please. Talking to children is easy, they listen with their big eyes. I become an asking child when I pray to the Santo Niño.

The devotion to the Holy Child was brought to the Philippines in the 1500’s. As is so typical in these stories of religious devotion in the Philippines, the people were in a state of expectation for the Holy Child as he was prefigured in their animist religion. When Magellan arrived, things began peacefully. The Queen of Cebu, Ratu Humanay, was very touched when encountering the Santo Niño statue that Magellan brought with him. She asked to be baptized.

People oftentime think that the Santo Niño de Cebu devotion is the same as the Infant of Prague. The Filipino devotion has an earlier history since Magellan landed in 1521 and the devotion was revived when Legazpi arrived in 1565.

Magellan was killed by Lapu-lapu and the remains of the Spanish fleet hobbled back to Spain. The crew of 250 was reduced to 8. It took some years for the Spanish king to put the Philippines back on its immediate agenda. {Read more…}

They came in all shapes, colors and sizes. Most wore regal red velvet capes, one had a faux white fur coat, there was an apparition in pink and still another in a very summery shirt and grasskirt. Devotees from as far as Wisconsin attended the 6th Santo Niño de Agosto Fiesta in Illinois held on Saturday, August 19, 2006 at the St. Genevieve Church in Chicago, Illinois. This project was initiated by Fr. Leoncio S. Santiago. (Photo: ABF)

By Sylvia L. Mayuga

When Howie, the investigative journalist married Ipat, the environmental lawyer, their wedding memento was worthy of two visionaries – a tiny Sto. Niño, right hand raised in blessing, lying on shiny coils of sinamay fiber tucked into a festive native basket.

This Niño was not only portable. Its basket-nest gave it the look of an egg –-a symbol of new life so devoutly to be wished it could land only at the foot of the household Sacred Heart, its grown-up version.

Then one day a baby girl abandoned by her mother landed in this household – and quickly discovered the Niño’s playtime possibilities. No one ever stopped her from picking up “the baby” for an afternoon tea party with Winnie the Pooh, Big Bird and Elmo, or giving Him echo seminars on the alphabet. Can you think of a better prelude to adult discovery of love divine than a dear and intimate playmate?

She’s growing up Pinoy. The Niño is a very old spiritual lodestone among us. Spanish chroniclers say it all began when the queen of Cebu took a shine to the first Sto. Niño ever to land in our islands – an enamored first encounter with God-as-infant that led to her christening as Queen Juana, the mass baptism of her husband Humabon’s fiefdom, and the beginning of four centuries of Filipino Christianity.

{Read more…}