Filipino Catholics celebrate the Feast of Santo Niño honoring the child Jesus(Video/ photos)
Catholic Filipinos celebrated Sinulog, or the Santo Niño Festival, over the weekend at Immaculate Conception Church in Secaucus bringing their child Jesus statues to church for the annual blessing.
Sinulog, the Philippines’ largest festival, features a ritual prayer dance honoring Señor Santo Niño, or the Child Jesus. Some parishes within the Archdiocese of Newark have continued the tradition here for their Filipino parishioners.
At Immaculate Conception, Filipino Catholics processed into Mass wearing the colorful clothing of the Philippines and carrying images of the child Jesus while performing the popular Sinulog dance. Many parishioners also brought their own Santo Niño statues to be blessed and placed at the altar.
The tradition is a symbol of the birth of Catholicism in the Philippines more than 500 years ago, when Ferdinand Magellan gifted an image of the Baby Jesus to a Filipino ruler’s wife after he and his wife converted to Christianity.
A procession takes place with people in elaborate traditional dress holding their Señor Santo Niños. They move down the aisle doing the Sinulog dance — two steps forward, one step back — mimicking the movement of a water current (the word “Sinulog” originates from the Cebuano word “sulog,” which roughly translates to “like water current movement”).
According to Filipino tradition, Queen Juana, the main consort of Rajah Humabon, danced with joy when given the image of the child Jesus. Others joined her in the first Sinulog dance. Another story relays that the Sinulog dance steps originate from Rajah Humabon’s adviser, Baladhay, who became sick. Humabon ordered that he be brought into a special room where Santo Niño was kept. Later Baladhay was found shouting and dancing, saying that baby Jesus was tickling him. Baladhay said his dance was the movement of the river.
During the Mass at Immaculate Conception, candles were passed to the faithful, and the popular song “Batobalani sa Gugma (Magnet of Love)” was sung in devotion to the Child Jesus. The song is a powerful prayer of thanks and petition and gives a historical account of how the Christian faith was brought to the islands. The song spans six to seven minutes.
In the Philippines, the Feast of Santo Niño is one of the most popular religious festivals and is celebrated by more than 1 million people during the third weekend of January in Cebu City.
The Santo Niño festival has been celebrated in the Archdiocese of Newark for more than half a century, according to the director of the Filipino Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Newark, Father JM Manolo A. Punzalan.
“Although we don’t have a big archdiocesan event, it is big in parishes where we celebrate it,” he said.
Immaculate Conception Church held a nine-day Santo Niño Novena leading up to the feast day. Father Sergio Nadres, the parish’s pastor, said it was the first time the church had held the festival, and the parishioners were extremely excited.
