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ORIGIN OF THE HOLY IMAGE
The Sto. Niño is part of Philippine history, said writer Nick Joaquin in a 1980 paper delivered before Cebuanos.

It is such a symbol of Philippine history “because it came with Magellan, became a native pagan idol, was reestablished as a Christian icon by Legazpi, and has become so Filipino that native legends annul its European origin by declaring it to have arisen in this land and to have been of this land since time immemorial.

In 1521, the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Zubu Island for Spain and gifted the Image of Santo Niño to the island queen, Joanna. On his death at the hands of Lapulapu’s Mactan warriors, his men fled back to Spain, leaving the image behind. In its new environment, among sun-loving people, the image stopped to be a Christian symbol. After some vain efforts on the part of the natives to destroy it, as legends say, it endured its new setting and prevailed to become a pagan idol.

Writer Joaquin talked about these years after the Magellan men left and before the next Spanish expedition came under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi – all 44 unaccounted years. Joaquin said that “during that strange interlude… the wondrous miracle happened: we accepted the Santo Niño as part of our land, part of our culture, part of our history. During those 44 years when the Cross had vanished from our land, the Sto. Niño kept us faithful to him”.

In those unaccounted years, the Image became part of Cebuano life. And this is probably why when asked about the Image, as it was found in 1565 by the Legazpi expedition in one of the village houses, the natives refused to relate it to the gift of Magellan. They said it was there at the beginning, since ancient times.

Writer Dr. Resil Mojares, also in a1980 paper, said that the claim of the 1565 Cebuanos that the Image was native and ancient in the land was probably because they were afraid to admit that it was a Spanish property or else it would be taken away from them.

The natives’ version of the origin of the Santo Niño is in the “Agipo” (stump or driftwood) legend about magical driftwood caught in the fishhook of an ancient native fisherman. Everytime he throw it away, it reappeared until decided to keep it. Then, oi! The fish catch became so plentiful for the fisherman that day. The agipo, brought to the settlement, would later manifest its powers to the people – guard the people’s harvest, protect them from pestilence.

Writer Mojares says this legend of the magical driftwood would only be natural to the folk mind. “The folk mind cannot completely conceive of a God that is manufactured in a workshop somewhere in a country called Belgium but it can believe that a God can rise out of the sea and bring on the rains by being submerged again in it”.

Thus, the unaccounted 44 years of the stay of the Image in the hands of the natives is part of Philippine history. The Sto. Niño, as writer Joaquin put it, “connected, he linked, he joined together our pagan and our Christian culture; he belonging to both.”

The Santo Niño has been there in our early cultural growth, “an image in our quest, of our 400 years of history,” said Joaquin.

source: http://www.sinulog.ph/

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Crowds getting bigger: Hope, joy fire up devotion to Sto. Niño
By Jasmin Uy, Flor Perolina and Edwin Ian Melecio
The Freeman 01/21/2007

Yesterday, the "vesperas" of the feast of the Santo Nino, was a day of disappointment as it was a day of exhilaration and hope.

For the third year in a row, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was not able to join the procession of the Holy Image around the streets of the old city. The same unspecified reason was cited - upon orders of his doctor.

But for the second year in a row, a rainbow appeared in the skies just as the early morning fluvial procession wound its way from Mandaue City to Cebu City in reenactment of the arrival of the Holy Image to Cebu from Spain more than 400 years ago.

Later in the day, during the street procession, a shorter route did not necessarily mean fewer people in attendance. According to police estimates, more people turned up for the highly emotional ritual, claiming hundreds of thousands actually walked the route while hundreds of thousands more lined up along the way.

As the Santo Nino, carried in a flower-bedecked ornate carriage, passed by those who lined the streets, the people invariably waved, some with their bare hands, others with handkerchiefs or whatever it was they happened to be holding. Some would drop to their knees while others would jump up and down.

Many would be clapping while almost all would be weeping, not knowing whether they weep in joy, in hope or in faith. The feeling is hard to fathom. But there is no mistaking that it seizes the individual like he has never been seized before. It leaves goose pimples on his skin.

Such is the strength of the devotion of the people in this the oldest city in the Philippines.

The original image was a gift of Ferdinand Magellan to the reigning king and queen of Cebu in 1521 for converting into Christianity. A later expedition by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565 discovered the image among the burnt ruins of the village following an encounter with the natives.

From that humble beginning sprung a devotion that has attracted people from all walks of life, both in the Philippines and abroad, some attracted by sheer faith, many others by the miracles attributed to the Holy Child's intercession.

The procession this year, though following a shorter route, still took nearly six hours to traverse the roughly four-kilometer distance from the Basilica del Santo Nino and back.

Among the other well-venerated icons that joined the procession were those of the Birhen sa Consolacion and of St. Joseph.

Some 30,000 student volunteers helped to cordon off the procession route while scores of soldiers provided security.

At the fluvial procession, more than a hundred seacraft both big and small joined as thousands stood on shorelines and on the waterfronts to watch it go by.

Prior to the procession, a Mass was celebrated at the National Shrine of St. Joseph Parish. From there, the images of the Santo Nino and the Virgin of Guadalupe were taken to the Ouano Wharf in Mandaue City and then on to the waiting vessels for the short ride to Cebu City.

No major incidents marred both activities, said Cebu City police chief Patrocinio Comendador.

source: http://www.philstar.com/philstar/Fre...0701211801.htm

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[speedy_gonzalez]

Its so chaotic here...............
the streets are crowded with people.
but luckily, this kind of situation will only last until tommorow...........

hahahahahaha

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