10 Things We Should Know About Sinulog

1. The Sinulog commemorates the Filipino people’s acceptance of Christianity.

2. The Sinulog is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, and is the center of the Santo Niño celebration in the Philippines.

3. The Sinulog celebration lasts for nine days, culminating on the final day with the Sinulog Grand Parade

4. The word Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which roughly means “water current movement;” it describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance.

5. Until today, candle vendors at the Basilica continue to perform the traditional version of the dance when lighting a candle for the customer, usually accompanied by songs in the native language.

6. The Sinulog Festival competition is divided into three (3) categories namely the Street Dancing Category, Free Interpretation and Sinulog base categories. The free interpretation category has the most number of participating contingents coming from outside Cebu. The dance steps are fast and the storyline and theme varies from folkloric, mythical and historical lines.

7. Sinulog Festival showcases the most number of participants and the best choreographic exhibition of any festival in the Philippines.

8. Starting in 1980, the Cebu City government organized the Sinulog Festival and eventually gave incentives to tribal dance groups.

9. The first Sinulog parade was held in 1980, organized by Dávid Odilao, then Regional Director of the Ministry of Sports, and Youth Development. The parade was composed of students dressed in Moro costumes, dancing the Sinulog to the beating of drums.

10. The Cebu City Historical Committee, which was responsible for the conceptualization of the Sinulog as a provincial event, decided to adopt a logo for the Sinulog to identify it as an institutionalized yearly event. They turned to the coat of arms of the Santo Niño which consisted of a two-headed hawk that was the mark of the ruling House of Habsburg in Europe. The emblem represented the twin purpose of the Habsburg dynasty as “Champion of Catholicism and Defender of the Faith.” At the time when Spain sent expeditions to the Philippines, they were under the Habsburg dynasty.

The Sinulog committee then incorporated the two-headed eagle to a native warrior’s shield. The native shield is supposed to symbolize the Philippines resistance to colonization while the Santo Niño’s coat of arms printed on its face represented the country’s acceptance of Roman Catholicism.