The first day of the month is the City Daily Photo’s Theme Day. The theme for this month is : “WOOD”.
This reminds me of the Ents in the movie “Lord of the Rings”. This particular ‘tree’ attracts kids and adults alike with its happy & friendly face. You can find this at Mountain View Nature’s Park located in Busay.
In this Sinulog series, you will notice that most of the photos featured are people outside the parade. The desire to take photos of the parade left me replaced by the idea of capturing the spirit of the festivity outside it instead. Aside from that, the intermittent rain dampened my mood. Given the size of the crowd along the street (and lugging two kids) aside from finding a clean loo, you really need to plan where to run in case of rain. The best bet would be where the ambulant vendors are.
Below “mamang sorbertero” enjoying good sales despite the rain.
Sinulog’s patron figure is the Santo Nino de Cebu (Holy Child of Cebu), it is the representation of Jesus Christ as a child. There are various images of the patron each dependent on the belief of the owner.
The photo below is one of the variation of Santo Nino - the Santo Nino de Abundancia, representing Jesus as a rich child. This particular Santo Nino carries a sack of money (take note of the coins) and stepping on another sack filled with more money.
Cebuanos from all over the globe will always go back for their lechon, chicharon and ngo hiong. You can see below the deep-fried Cebuano version of vegetarian spring rolls - ngo hiong. Pair it with “puso” - rice cooked in a cone-shaped coconut leaves plus a bottle of soda is enough to satisfy the rumbling stomach. You can always find ngo hiong and puso in food courts, some local restaurants and “larsian” - the famous BBQ place near Fuente Osmena. Another street favorite is the siomai which you can find anywhere in the city.
One of the fun things to do during Sinulog is to have your hair painted with glow- in- the- dark paint. The hair painting reminds me of Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” Music Video. Come to think of it Sinulog nights are good, good nights.
I also dedicate this day to Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo - MALIGAYANG KAARAWAN, ERIC!
Eric inspired me to go out of my comfort zone, look around my city and share it to the world. His photos of his beloved Paris remind me of romantic movies of yore - adventure, romance, travel, and Grace Kelly. Thank you Eric! Again, happy birthday!
Sun Star Daily - Cebu’s local newspaper - yesterday headline reads Sinulog 2010 Fiesta draws 8 million people. I wonder, that’s more than twice the population of the whole island.
Today is the start of my Sinulog 2010 Series. Sinulog, the grandest of all festivals in the Philippines held annually every 3rd week of January here in my little island paradise just concluded yesterday.
For this year i will deviate from featuring photos of the parade. Instead of the usual pictures of Festival Queens, dancers and floats, I will feature the different Cebuano faces, symbols and asides. If you are looking for parade pictures, you can easily google it given the 2 thousand photographers who were granted permits to take photos. Hopefully, I captured the spirit behind this biggest Cebuano festival.
One of the canons at Fuerza de San Pedro.
What could be more fun than drawing your favorite things on the sidewalk? Kids + chalk + sidewalk = bliss!
