Reader says Sinulog is not a mardi gras

Question many concerned Cebuanos are asking themselves: “Will there be reconciliation between Tomas and Gwen in this year of the rabbit?”

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 I also asked myself that question and the answer I got was no reconciliation. Because neither of the two would be willing to eat the humble pie first.

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 Tom O says Guv Gwen may turn to “water terrorism” to assert power over the city government. A Capitol rah-rah boy says the charge is all wet.

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 And another Gwen rooter says: “What’s Tom O trying to prove? That he’s a wet blanket or something?” A wet blanket is not a blanket dipped in water. It means something like a killjoy.

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 Former Sen. Ernie Maceda, now a Philstar columnist, wants a “shake up” in the police force. Targets are cops involved in some “shake downs.”

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 A Manila policeman has been accused of raping a woman detainee. This cop must be too poor to enjoy sex in the comforts of a hotel room. He raped the woman in the police headquarters.

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 The headline says: “NPA Vows Attacks Ahead of Talks.” Isn’t that doing the government a favor? Where can you see an enemy giving the other side the chance to prepare for the attack? Or is that just a ploy or whatever? (Whatever is actually an irritating word, according to a survey.)

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 E-mail from Ricardito Sanchez of LA: “I’ve been to Cebu on two occasions to witness and enjoy the Sinulog festival. I have been wondering why the festival is called mardi gras. There’s no mardi gras at all in our Sinulog. Not even a hint of it. But why mardi gras?”

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 Mr. Sanchez explains that a mardi gras (always in two words) as done in Rio de Janeiro or in New Orleans, is a wild merrymaking where everyone drops his or her inhibition, sometimes to the point of insanity.

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 “Our Sinulog festival,” says Mr. Sanchez, “is a tame religious-cultural show with no tinge of wild merrymaking as seen in the mardi gras of Rio or New Orleans.” He adds: “It borders on the sacrilege to call our religious activities in honor of the Sto. Niño a mardi gras.”

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