The Feast of the Santo Niño or the Holy Child Jesus falls yearly on the third Sunday of January. Though originally a simple religious feast, it has become one of the grandest and most colorful festivals now called the Sinulog. 

To celebrate this year’s festival, various activities were lined up by the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu and the Sinulog Foundation, as well as the local governments of Cebu City and Cebu Province.  Their respective themes are “Santo Niño: Hope of the Pilgrim Church” and “One Beat, One Dance, One Vision.” 

The estimated three million devotees, pilgrims, tourists and residents expected to join the celebration may take part in novena Masses in English and Cebuano, Masses including a Pontifical Mass on Fiesta Day, foot processions, “mananita” Masses, a fluvial parade, and the Sinulog grand parade and competitions. 

While these activities are intended for paying homage to the Santo Niño, they also serve to remember the events marking the birth of Christianity in the Philippines. 

The historic narrative is echoed in the choreography of most of the 43 Sinulog street-dance contingents performing in the 1.8-kilometer grand parade and showdown during Fiesta Day.

It is also told more directly during the Solemnity of Mass to Commemorate the First Mass, Baptism and Wedding in Cebu, which was held at the Basilica Pilgrim Center in Cebu early on Jan. 18, Visperas Day (or the eve of Fiesta Day). As the presiding priest at the Mass said, it is to continue to thank God for the gift of enduring faith with the help of the Santo Niño. 

Reenactment

As stated in the Facebook post of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, the Mass includes a reenactment that “brings to life the historic moments that introduced Christianity to the Philippines—the planting of the cross, the first baptism, mass and wedding in Cebu.”  The reenactment held hours before the solemn foot procession also shows the presentation of the Santo Niño image.

The reenactment featuring a cast of hundreds showed the “live” Rajah Humabon, Hara Humamai, Princess Isabel and Don Andres de Calipata and a number of Cebuanos and Spaniards who came with Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer for Portugal and Spain who is known to have discovered or rediscovered the Philippines. 

The narrative in the reenactment told in Cebuano (aired live by the basilica on FB) quoted from the writings of Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of the Magellan-Elcano expedition: On the fourth day of Magellan’s arrival in Cebu on April 7, 1521, Humabon, the ruler of Cebu, was baptized as Carlos after the then king of Spain, and his wife Humamai (in some accounts, one of his wives) as Juana. 

The retelling also stated that the first wedding held in Christian rites was between Calipata, a member of the Legaspi expedition that arrived in Cebu, and Isabel, a niece of Rajah Tupas. Their wedding was held days after the finding of the Santo Niño image by Juan Camus on April 28, 1565

More details are provided in the FB post of the National Quincentennial Committee on the earliest recorded Christian baptism in the Philippines, which took place in Cebu. The post says it was held on a Sunday at the consecrated “piaza.” 

The ceremony took place four days after Humabon allowed the Spaniards to mount a Christian cross and bury two of their countrymen in the piaza. It was officiated by Fr. Pedro de Valderrama, chaplain of the Magellan-Elcano expedition; although intended only for Humabon, it was extended to include even the local officials and other men who were present. 

The National Quincentennial Committee post also says Humabon’s heir was renamed Fernando, after the brother of the Spanish king. Around 500 men were baptized during the morning ritual that was exclusive to officials and men.

Holy Child’s image

According to the account, the image of the Holy Child was shown to Humamai. She is said to have been delighted by the aesthetics and charm of the image of a “señora donna” (Virgin Mary) and “a very beautiful wooden bambino” (Holy Child), and a crucifix shown to her.

She is said to have been so touched on seeing the image of the Holy Child that she wept and repented for her sins and was convinced to be also baptized as Juana (after Joanna of Castile, Carlos’ mother).

Humamai and 40 other women, including the wife of Rajah Colambu, the ruler of Mazaua, were baptized after lunch also by Valderrama. In his account, Pigafetta said that in the same event Valderrama baptized 800 more people, regardless of gender, including children. 

After her baptism, Juana asked for the image of the Santo Niño as a gift. Pigafetta is remembered as the one who presented the image to her.

Magellan then ordered that a large cross be planted in the middle of the piaza for veneration and told the new converts to “burn all their idols and set up a cross in their place.” (Magellan’s Cross, near the Basilica of the Santo Niño, has become one of the famous historical landmarks of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines.) 

Earlier, Magellan said he “would not cause any displeasure to those who wished to live according to their own law.” But Pigafetta noted that Magellan contradicted this statement as he later threatened Humabon’s allies who refused to be baptized that they would incur the wrath of Spain. Humabon’s allies, who were from various parts of Cebu, were intimidated into receiving the sacrament.

(The conversion can be said to be far from easy and smooth, but it was apparently not as violent as the later encounter between Magellan and Mactan’s King Lapu-lapu.)

An FB post of the National Quincentennial Committee says that contrary to popular belief, there were also non-Cebuanos among those first baptized as Christians.  They included the foreign Muslim merchant who served as Humabon’s Malay translator (baptized as Cristobal), and Colambu and his wife (baptized as Juan and Isabel, respectively). 

It also says “Fernando Malang Balagtas,” a former “lakan” or ruler of Tondo (now part of Manila) claimed in his last will and testament executed in 1589 that he was baptized in Cebu in 1521.

Common theme

Today, a version of the story of the first baptism and the gift of the Santo Niño and the encounter between Cebuano natives and Spanish missionaries is a common theme in the choreography of most Sinulog dance contingents. 

During the grand parade on Fiesta Day, it is common to see a dance contingent of 100 dancers featuring, in colorful costumes, “Spanish soldiers” (with helmets, swords and shields), “Spanish senoritas,” pretty “native lasses,” and able-bodied “native men” with bolos. The ending choreography is invariably by a beautiful lead female dancer holding aloft and giving homage to the image of the Santo Niño. (This is the basic choreography although the contingents may differ greatly in their props and creative dance movements.)

Four years ago, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines designated the 500th anniversary of the baptism in Cebu as the reckoning date of the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines on April 14, 2021.

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