Sinug Offers Unique Way To pray For The Departed

In keeping with the tradition of the Sinulog’s original dance steps, The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) once again held the annual “Sinug sa Casa Gorordo” last January 18 outside the RAFI-Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center building in Parian, Cebu City (across Casa Gorordo Museum).

Those who witnessed the Sinug had the unique opportunity to offer prayers for their departed loved ones through the dance prayer.

The holding of the Sinug was Casa Gorordo Museum’s tribute to the Sto. Niño de Cebu the Monday immediately after the Sinulog Grand Parade, which is held in Cebu City every third Sunday of January.

Part of the presentation is the offering of the dance as prayer for departed loved ones.

Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, RAFI-Culture and Heritage Unit executive director, said this is similar to candle vendors who dance the Sinulog at the Basilica del Sto. Niño for good health and/or healing of the person who bought the candles.

The Sinug, though, is more than just a dance. It is actually a reliving of a Cebuano tradition where prayers are offered for departed loved ones through dance.

Gerra said it is an intangible heritage that otherwise would have been lost already if not for the Turang Dance Troupe of Mabolo, Cebu City.

Although both dances pay homage to the Sto. Niño, the less known Sinug dance has its own fixed format and unique beat and steps not present in the Sinulog. It also does not have a have a dancing “reyna” who carries the image of the Senyor in the Sinulog. Instead, the icon is placed at an altar facing the dancers.

The dance narrates the coming of Christianity to the Philippines, the conflict between the locals and the Spaniard,s and the eventual peace between the two forces through the intercession of the Sto. Niño.

Sinug dancers were traditionally invited by the Gorordo family and other Parian families who wished to pray for the souls of their departed loved ones in this special way.

Believing that the dance ritual is worth preserving for the next generations to witness and experience, RAFI, after buying the Gorordo house and transforming it into a museum, supported Turang Dance Troupe’s efforts to insure that the Sinug tradition lives on.

This Monday, however, the dancers would be led by Carolina Diola and her son Rommel Borja, upon whose shoulders now lie the responsibility of preserving this unique aspect of the Cebuano’s Sinulog heritage.

Esterlita “Titang” Diola, considered as the “beat keeper of the Sinug”, died in 2013, but she was able to pass her knowledge of the Sinug to her niece Carolina and nephew Rommel.

Nang Titang learned the dance steps when she was seven from her father, Buenaventura ‘Turang’ Diola, and was taught the beat by Mariano ‘Iklot’ Bontilao.

The Sinug is one of the Gorordo family house traditions that RAFI preserved.