CEBU (UCAN): The traditional Santo Niño’s feast is set to resume in January 2023 in the Basilica del Santo Niño de Cebu, the Philippines Augustinian Father John Ion Miranda, media liaison, for the basilica announced. The theme of the 458th celebration is Santo Niño: Our Source of Peace in the Walk of Faith.
The Fiesta Señor Secretariat said that the government of Cebu gave permission for the activities to start again and they are already working with the Cebu City Police Office and other relevant government agencies to make sure everything goes smoothly.
The event will allow tens of thousands of devotees and pilgrims to return to the streets of Cebu to yell “Viva Pit Senyor!” [Long Live the Christ Child], as the festivities had to be cancelled in the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless. organisers urgently requested that all devotees, pilgrims, and guests follow health rules to keep everyone safe and to keep the religious celebration as solemn as possible.
Aside from the Novena Masses and the fluvial procession, some of the religious activities include the Penitential Walk with Jesus, the Penitential Walk with Mary, the Traslaciones—the meeting of the images of the Holy Family—in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, and the procession of the image of Sto. Niño de Cebu on January 14, the feast day itself.
The famous Sinulog Festival is also set to make a comeback next year. The secular festival’s origins can be traced back to Ferdinand Magellan, who offered the image of the Santo Niño to Queen Juana, Rajah Humabon’s wife.
The Santo Niño de Cebu is the oldest Christian artefact in the Philippines.
