Basilica Minore Del Sto. Niño de Cebu
I was back, and happy! This was a Friday, two days before Sinulog 2009.
I don't know (yet) what it is in this church that I like. Maybe it is the energy - that mix of easily visible fervent devotion and physical movements that you can see and feel at everywhere you look - whether it's during Sinulog season or an ordinary weekday.
We arrived by taxi from Gorordo Ave. at 5:23PM. Just in time for the 5:30PM mass.
Da! Mala-fiesta na ang atmosphere! But lesson learned - you need to get off a block or 2 from the church, then walk (aw, wade your way) in a sea of ambulating humanity!
Not recommended for the elderly, little children, pregnant, and those who can't walk long distances or stand for about 2 hours. Avoid jewelry or carrying non-essentials.
Oy, those banderitas create cute 'flappity flap' sounds when the cool January winds blow. But don't take my word for it because... it usually rains or drizzles sporadically!
Quick & light showers really, just enough to drench you, after which you become dry again while still in that crowd... enough to make you sick if you lack Vitamin C hehe!
FYI, I have Cebuano friends who consider those quick & light showers a blessing. It is bad omen daw if it doesn't happen on the 9-day novena and on Sinulog day itself!
That picture above is not the basilica, in case you don't know that yet. That's called the Pilgrim Center, which (I hope I remember correctly) was built in the early 1990s.
So where's the real church? Behind me when I took that picture. That Pilgrim Center building and the bleacher-like structures on the sides are/were the entire periphery of what was then called the Santo Niño Plaza - yung me fountain and basketbolan!
This Pilgrim Center is where festival and other church masses are celebrated due to the cramped space inside the basilica. That stage facing the church, becomes altar.
Wait... what were they(we) doing raising their(our) hands? Ah, that's when everybody sings that endearing recent melody of a Cebuano Gozos titled Bato Balani sa Gugma.
Trivia: there's a ridiculist banter among younger bisdaks online (slowly creeping to the older ones hehehe), where they look at the hand gesture to spot taga-Manila or 'dayo'!
All for private naughty-fun, really. Nothing alarming. No Cebuano will even say that in your face. Okay, but can you tell how many in that picture are surely not from Cebu?
Ganito yan... that raising of the hand is a devotional call or acknowledgement. It can loosely mean hi or bye, up to a fervent don't forget me or have mercy on us, etcetera.
Remember "Pit Señor"? 'Pit' means sangpit or tawag or call or even adulate or praise. The raising of the hand is a representation of "pit". So, it goes without saying that, it has to be always with an open palm not a clenched fist. You're not singing Bayan Ko!
Hindi yan "makibaka" sa rally sa EDSA na sabi nga ng mga K at J "fighting" hehehe!
Now, ilan ang "dayo" sa picture na yan? Hahaha, those kids then start counting!
One more thing and by the way... when these youngsters (and adults) pronounce the "taga-Ma-ne-la", there's emphasis on the "ne" in a sarcastic way, with rolling eyeballs!
Akala nyo kayong taga-Manila lang ang magaling na pag-tawanan ang mga Bisaya? Ay, the other way around is also true. Sa arrival pa lang, mina-marder ka na hahaha!
How do/did I know all that? By frequently roaming around. Kaya nga I love Cebu na. Kaya nga mag-aalsa balutan na yata ako in the next few months. Trying-hard Bisdak!
Okay, enough of the trivia!
After a mass, the "bendicion". All who came with their images of the Sto. Niño come to front where priests bless them with holy water. Some bring their children instead!
Notice there is one who brought her calendar (probably with a Sto. Niño image on it)!
What amazed us was the automatic fluid movement of people. Not all of them were already by that barricade. But when it was time, everyone just gave way to them all.
Alright. We turned around, and here's the façade of the basilica, all along behind us.
We wanted to enter, so we had to make our way across that thick "sea of humanity".
Here's a tip I created & tested with this set of friends: when negotiating crowds as a group, it is sometimes inevitable that 1 or 2 or many of you could get dragged away by the constantly moving throng. So we set "waypoints" that everyone must know is our target destination. In this case, by that historical marker near the entrance door.
We still tried to walk together, or as close to each other as possible. Yet indeed, two got dragged by the crowd, they could not go straight to that point. So we waited for them there. You know where they ended? Inside the basilica, ahead of us, by entering at another door - since that was the only possible way! And they came out to meet us!
See? If we didn't have that plan, we could all have gone everywhere looking for them in panic, while they too did the same, so all the more that we'd be scattered hahaha!
Part of our plans: if phones don't work (it hapens in crowded areas), and half an hour elapses, we call 911 - joke. We do have a Plan B or C, like the nearest police station!
Anyway, so we were inside the Basilica Minore Del Sto. Niño de Cebu. Ito ang altar:
Oops, let me correct that - only the retablo of the altar. I tried my very best to have a respectable shot but to no avail huhuhu. All Fuji cameras don't like dark subjects - eh all the more if you only have a mere P&S as in 'Point and Shoot' FinePix E550. Haay!
Lalo na if it's dark na nga (for the camera) and people keep moving, it gets blurred.
Well, oks pa rin - for the memories. That's a shot from middle of the basilica, looking at the back (main entrance), the Pilgrim Center out there, and/or the widescreen TV.
This is probably the only church where you see a wide screen projection at the back wall facing the altar hehe. But that is exactly for this situation - where people inside the church face not the altar but the outside - because the mass is being held there!
Yes, that's a medyo weird situation, but I guess better - for the oldies, the disabled or those who can't last in the big crowds out there, during festivals or big celebrations.
How is that? Oh, you stay on the pews, but face to the back (not the basilica's altar). When it's time to sit or kneel, ah, you face the altar, your back to the priests hehehe!
Kuha? Got that?
Okay now... I glanced at the ceiling, and I immediately thought "buti naman". I said that because... the faces of politicians are not anymore there. Or, di ko lang makita?
And, I sat at one of the pews for quite some time... waiting for my friends who lined up to see/kiss the Sto. Niño de Cebu, over at the side of the altar. Ang haba ng pila!
Final Note: this was a Friday, not (yet) a holiday. Sunday is Sinulog day. This, I came to know, was part of the 9-day Novena Masses, prior to the Feast Day of Sto. Niño.
Final Final Note: this wasn't as if one mass a day. While sitting at the pews, the 7PM last mass already started, though lesser attendees. And I saw the schedule on a wall, so many masses a day (almost every hour). This just shows the Cebuano religiosity.
Great experience.
I don't know (yet) what it is in this church that I like. Maybe it is the energy - that mix of easily visible fervent devotion and physical movements that you can see and feel at everywhere you look - whether it's during Sinulog season or an ordinary weekday.
We arrived by taxi from Gorordo Ave. at 5:23PM. Just in time for the 5:30PM mass.
Not recommended for the elderly, little children, pregnant, and those who can't walk long distances or stand for about 2 hours. Avoid jewelry or carrying non-essentials.
Oy, those banderitas create cute 'flappity flap' sounds when the cool January winds blow. But don't take my word for it because... it usually rains or drizzles sporadically!
Quick & light showers really, just enough to drench you, after which you become dry again while still in that crowd... enough to make you sick if you lack Vitamin C hehe!
FYI, I have Cebuano friends who consider those quick & light showers a blessing. It is bad omen daw if it doesn't happen on the 9-day novena and on Sinulog day itself!
That picture above is not the basilica, in case you don't know that yet. That's called the Pilgrim Center, which (I hope I remember correctly) was built in the early 1990s.
So where's the real church? Behind me when I took that picture. That Pilgrim Center building and the bleacher-like structures on the sides are/were the entire periphery of what was then called the Santo Niño Plaza - yung me fountain and basketbolan!
This Pilgrim Center is where festival and other church masses are celebrated due to the cramped space inside the basilica. That stage facing the church, becomes altar.
Trivia: there's a ridiculist banter among younger bisdaks online (slowly creeping to the older ones hehehe), where they look at the hand gesture to spot taga-Manila or 'dayo'!
Ganito yan... that raising of the hand is a devotional call or acknowledgement. It can loosely mean hi or bye, up to a fervent don't forget me or have mercy on us, etcetera.
Remember "Pit Señor"? 'Pit' means sangpit or tawag or call or even adulate or praise. The raising of the hand is a representation of "pit". So, it goes without saying that, it has to be always with an open palm not a clenched fist. You're not singing Bayan Ko!
Hindi yan "makibaka" sa rally sa EDSA na sabi nga ng mga K at J "fighting" hehehe!
Now, ilan ang "dayo" sa picture na yan? Hahaha, those kids then start counting!
One more thing and by the way... when these youngsters (and adults) pronounce the "taga-Ma-ne-la", there's emphasis on the "ne" in a sarcastic way, with rolling eyeballs!
Akala nyo kayong taga-Manila lang ang magaling na pag-tawanan ang mga Bisaya? Ay, the other way around is also true. Sa arrival pa lang, mina-marder ka na hahaha!
How do/did I know all that? By frequently roaming around. Kaya nga I love Cebu na. Kaya nga mag-aalsa balutan na yata ako in the next few months. Trying-hard Bisdak!
Okay, enough of the trivia!
After a mass, the "bendicion". All who came with their images of the Sto. Niño come to front where priests bless them with holy water. Some bring their children instead!
What amazed us was the automatic fluid movement of people. Not all of them were already by that barricade. But when it was time, everyone just gave way to them all.
Alright. We turned around, and here's the façade of the basilica, all along behind us.
Here's a tip I created & tested with this set of friends: when negotiating crowds as a group, it is sometimes inevitable that 1 or 2 or many of you could get dragged away by the constantly moving throng. So we set "waypoints" that everyone must know is our target destination. In this case, by that historical marker near the entrance door.
We still tried to walk together, or as close to each other as possible. Yet indeed, two got dragged by the crowd, they could not go straight to that point. So we waited for them there. You know where they ended? Inside the basilica, ahead of us, by entering at another door - since that was the only possible way! And they came out to meet us!
See? If we didn't have that plan, we could all have gone everywhere looking for them in panic, while they too did the same, so all the more that we'd be scattered hahaha!
Part of our plans: if phones don't work (it hapens in crowded areas), and half an hour elapses, we call 911 - joke. We do have a Plan B or C, like the nearest police station!
Anyway, so we were inside the Basilica Minore Del Sto. Niño de Cebu. Ito ang altar:
Lalo na if it's dark na nga (for the camera) and people keep moving, it gets blurred.
This is probably the only church where you see a wide screen projection at the back wall facing the altar hehe. But that is exactly for this situation - where people inside the church face not the altar but the outside - because the mass is being held there!
Yes, that's a medyo weird situation, but I guess better - for the oldies, the disabled or those who can't last in the big crowds out there, during festivals or big celebrations.
How is that? Oh, you stay on the pews, but face to the back (not the basilica's altar). When it's time to sit or kneel, ah, you face the altar, your back to the priests hehehe!
Kuha? Got that?
Okay now... I glanced at the ceiling, and I immediately thought "buti naman". I said that because... the faces of politicians are not anymore there. Or, di ko lang makita?
And, I sat at one of the pews for quite some time... waiting for my friends who lined up to see/kiss the Sto. Niño de Cebu, over at the side of the altar. Ang haba ng pila!
Final Note: this was a Friday, not (yet) a holiday. Sunday is Sinulog day. This, I came to know, was part of the 9-day Novena Masses, prior to the Feast Day of Sto. Niño.
Final Final Note: this wasn't as if one mass a day. While sitting at the pews, the 7PM last mass already started, though lesser attendees. And I saw the schedule on a wall, so many masses a day (almost every hour). This just shows the Cebuano religiosity.
Great experience.
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