California Sinulog (part2)

After attending thefeast of Señor Sto.Niño with the Friday Rosary Group at St. Michael Abbey, we were again invited to witness a bigger fiesta celebration in honor of the Sto. Niño sponsored by a Fil-Am group on the day our very own fiesta was held at Basilica del Sto. Niño where, I was told, Dodong and Nena Gullas were Hermano Mayor and Hermana Mayor, respectively.

The celebration in Buena Park started with a Mass at the Pope Pius II Church and was attended by hundreds of Filipinos. This yearly celebration was organized by a Cebuana, Chiquita “Inday” Gica 16 years ago with the help of a Leytena Tessie Siongko. Do you know that on the third year of marking this event, people, not only Cebuanos came to help Inday, and the number of devotees have increased overwhelmingly. From then on, all Inday had to do was to encourage those who love the Sto. Niño not just to attend the Mass but also to bring food of sorts for lunch, and share with the others – potluck system. Also, Inday urged the devotees to bring their Sto. Niño images and dance the “Pit Señor.”

So, after paying homage to the Sto. Niño, there was a Sinulog presentation featuring the men, women and children in the community dancing to the beat of our Sinulog – in costumes pa gyud!

The Cebuanos, as usual, grouped themselves together and one of them, May Toling Mediano, donated a huge lechon to fulfill her “pana-ad” every year. The party continued with the Pinoys presenting some song numbers while the others did some line-dancing. Everybody had so much fun. At the end of every dancing, the people chanted Pit Señor!