Sinulog, the biggest festival in the Philippines, is held every year on the third Sunday in January.
It was announced that the Grand Parade, the main event in which many people participate, would be cancelled.
It is said that the grand parade in Sinulog attracts as many as one or two million people, including tourists from overseas.
If you look at the photos, you can see that the crowd is as large as a train during rush hour.
With so many people in the city, there are naturally a lot of pickpockets and other miscreants, so you have to be careful. In addition, in the past few years, cell phone communication has been blocked to guard against terrorism.
Sinulog" means "like a stream of water" in Visayan, and the parade dance seemed to be like that, parading through the city.
The main attraction of Sinulog is the statue of the Holy Infant Christ, Santo Niño.
It is said that Magellan gave this statue as a gift to the Queen of Cebu when he arrived in Cebu on his voyage around the world.
Magellan was killed in a battle with Lapu-Lapu, the king of Mactan Island (the island where Cebu Mactan Airport is located) on the other side of Cebu.
The king of Cebu then summoned the leaders of Magellan's group to a banquet and killed them.
This led to the destruction of the city of Cebu by the Spanish conquistador Legazpi on April 27, 1565, when he set it on fire.
Miraculously, an intact statue of Santo Niño was found in the destroyed city, and since then it has become the guardian deity of Cebu, preserved in the Santo Niño Church, and a statue of Santo Niño modeled after it is placed in homes as a guardian deity.
I also have a statue of Santo Niño in my house. I bought it as a souvenir when I went to Cebu for the first time in 1981, and I have a statue of Santo Niño along with the "A-Un Lion" at my entrance.
As you can see in the photo, the beautiful daughters are divided into several groups and parade with the statue of Santo Niño and dancing, which I would like to see at least once.
Last year, my wife's father passed away, and we went to Cebu right around the time of the Sinulog Festival, and I remember that all the hotels were packed.
This year's parade has been cancelled due to the slight increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Cebu City since the end of last year. However, performances will be held, so please enjoy them online, according to today's SUNSTAR newspaper.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Rama, the head of the festival committee, also announced that the Sinulog Festival will not be canceled but will be 100% virtual.
However, many Cebuans prefer to watch the parade on TV rather than go to the crowded streets.
The person who was most disappointed might have been the one who was planning to pickpocket himself in this crowd.
