It's Pista Senyor again
Right on the first wobbly days of the infant year the rituals at the Basilica del Santo Niño start to proclaim their solemnity and allure. Pista Senyor again–a time to crowd together again and sing together again, concerted voices of praise and pasalamat. This, amidst the still vibrant carols of Christmas and the heady euphoria of a newly born calendar year.
Why must the Holy Child come to us right when we're just saying hello to a new year? Or why must we come to him when the heart is still full of Advent exuberance? It must have been divine wisdom that arranged it all. For what follows babyhood but early childhood? Thus, the Child Jesus for whom we dance the sinu’og, for whom we implore "kanamo maluoy ka unta …" looms largest in our minds and hearts in the next few days and weeks.
Pista Senyor is not just any feast. It is the feast in Cebu and other places which adore the Holy Child. And every Cebuano no matter where he is, turns his gaze and thoughts toward the Basilica del Santo Niño where the miraculous icon is venerated.
He could be in the depth of farm lands or among business sectors in Mindanao, Leyte, Bohol Negros Oriental and or in other areas far and near. He could be outside the country as a foreign worker. Yet he would not be spared from the pious restlessness on days when the icon of the Child is raised to high heavens during his feast days in Cebu.
Thus this sight: sea of faces glowing in holy ecstasy hour after hour during the nine-day novena mass prior to feast day; bent old folks shuffling sinu’og steps on Basilica churchyard, mumbling, "Kang tatay kini…. Kang nanay kini … "And then the big bang of a procession when the icon along with millions of faithfuls traces his way on historic byways along which more prayerful millions are watching and waiting in full-hearted adoration. What a testament of faith! What a surge of devotion!
Where are the skeptics who say that technology erodes spirituality? Cebu is highly advance in science and technology, yet its traditional faith endures. Ago-go lifestyles have been embraced by many Cebuanos, but this has not impaired their love of God in the Santo Niño, nor lessen their belief in the miracles he has wrought. Thus, they still take to heart these stories.
There was an old sacristan, it was told, who used to clean the altar where the Holy Child stood. Now what's unusual about cleaning altars? Nothing–except that every now and then he would find "amorsico" stickers in the Child's cope. How come? Did the latter come down from his stand and gamboled as a child does among the grass in the churchyard? Calmly, the sacristan would pick off these unwanted attachments in the sacred habiliment, while gently reminding the Child to be careful about where he would play in the night. There would be no answer of course, but after doing his job the man would find coins right in front of the icon. And this he understood as the Child's reward for cleaning his cape.
And then there was an elderly woman who used to sell candles to visiting devotes for whom he would dance the sinu’og. One feast day she had to work until late in the night to respond to requests for more devotional dance. As she did these, she worried about her young kids who were left in their house by themselves perhaps already sleepy and hungry. But when she came home shortly after, what did she find but two kids happily feasting on "pancit" and fried chicken. Where did you get these? She asked, a bit alarmed and surprised. A child brought these, they answered. What child? We don't know, they said. But after further questioning, the kids told their mother that it was a dark-skinned child dressed in a red cope and wearing boots who gave them their sumptuous supper.
Tall tales, maybe. But every Cebuano knows that the Santo Niño is a miraculous Child.
Happy Pista Senyor!
- Latest
