Sinulog: Tradition Made New
2011 January
Sinulog Outtakes: Pit Señor!
• • • • • It’s been a long time since I personally attended a Sinulog [»] festival, but this annual event is Cebu’s biggest celebration next to Christmas. It’s like our very own version of Mar di Gras, complete with colourful reinactions of historical events the city is founded on—the Blood Compact [»], the Baptism of the Royal Couple, sometimes the Battle of Mactan [»] to tie off the history lesson.
From a designer’s perspective, of course my eyes are on the props! I get excited looking at, and imagining how they were conceived and executed by their production team… I would know because I had been there! It’s exactly like managing a design-manufacturing-production company, albeit on a small scale. I was specifically tasked to design the costumes for the entire cast of a major play my old college was putting out… while I was in high school! You can imagine how it daunted me, but at the same time excited me. One is guided and at the same time limited by certain factors such as theme, budget, production capacity, and available materials but the challenge is making these work for you!
Looking at different themes of the different contingents simply amazes me. These costumes have to be bright and vibrant enough to attract attention, yet light and easy to dance in. The contingents walk several long kilometers from the start of the procession down to the grand arena, dancing all the while with rest intervals in between! The liberal and creative use of natural material is likewise a feast for the eyes. Coco shells stitched end to end in semblance of armor, wooden beads strung artistically to form a headdress… a sight to behold!
Even while unifying themes are there—the standard Sinulog steps, the veneration of the Holy Child—it is the creativity with props and vivid interpretation of the event that emphasizes each contingent’s uniqueness.
It won’t be long before the furniture industry will be holding its own industry-version of celebration and international welcoming this March, and the Cebu-Next 2011 [»] show looms nearer. I try to remind myself of the dancers along Jones Avenue, and take heart from their example; that uniqueness is a statement that needs to be expressed, and there is no such thing as being overly-meticulous when it comes to detail and careful planning.
Like the dancers, and their historical counterparts, too, I treat my work as my prayer.
