Recently, me and my wife had the great opportunity to attend the Sinulog celebration in Deer Park, Melbourne, Australia. Sinulog is an annual festival held on the 3rd Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. On this festival, the Filipino people's pagan origin and consequently, their embrace of Christianity is being remembered.
While attending the ceremony of the Holy Eucharist, the congregation gathered together displayed a unified conviction in Santo Nino. What was striking for me personally is the overwhelming faith of the congregation. In spite of being far away from home and from their loved ones, those people who flocked together for the commemoration showed their genuine devotion.
After the mass, we witnessed the Sinulog dance offered by the Halad dancers. On this dance, the reverence spirit of the Filipino people is expressed by its various steps. It had the sound of the drums as its background and it depicted the desire to turn back from those evil noises around and inside of us.
Thus, the celebration meant not just to gather the Filipino faithful on this faraway place yet what counted most is their manifested unity. Much credit also is extended to my dear cousin, Lyn Jugan Banzon, for creating the Sinulog dance offering steps and the colorful costume of all Halad dancers.