“Pit Senyor Santo Nino! Hala Bira!”
After that nauseating festival of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo Manila, all eyes are set to the big Visayan festivals that honor another image of Jesus Christ. It seems that the Filipinos doesn’t want to end their Christmas early! Especially the Visayans which will prolong their celebrations all the way to the last days of January.
The Sinulog of Cebu, Dinagyang of Iloilo and Ati-Atihan of Kalibo all venerate the singlemost image that the Visayans cherish more than any other saints, in my opinion. The image of Santo Nino or the Holy Child.
April 12, 2007. Dale Mansueto of University of San Carlos and Arnold Sancover of Cebu Heritage blog alerted me one evening about this close encounter with Philippines’ oldest Spanish relic and boy it was really like a once in a lifetime close encounter with the image itself. And yeah, I was late!
Believed to be the oldest Spanish relic in the Philippines, the image of Santo Nino de Cebu was given by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 upon the baptism of Rajah Humabon and Queen Juana of ancient Cebu to Christianity. It was believed that the queen was so enamoured with the statue that the Spaniards brought with them so much, that they gave it to the natives. And after that, Magellan died and was killed by LapuLapu from the rival fiefdom of Mactan and left the image with the natives.
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