sto. niños and sinulog

I was never one to pray over statues, wooden or porcelain, intricately carved or not. But Sinulog is the time when the Christ child statue of Sto. Niño reigns supreme. I can see them everywhere, from National Bookstore to pins to t-shirts and award-winning photographs.

Sinulog celebrates the Sto. Niño, doh.


Last night at Ayala, I had to interview Sister Sienna for an article on their Sto. Niño exhibit. I kept on calling her ma'am instead of sister, a giveaway of my "religiousness" if there ever was one.

But she was a nice li'l old nun.

“That one is my favorite, we were friends even before I became a nun, back when I was still in the choir,” she said, pointing to a Sto. Niño in a gold, regal gown, owned by Msgr. Cris Garcia.

Admittedly, that was my favorite too. It was the best-looking compared to all the other Sto. Niños, more elegant, old but not old-looking, perfectly proportioned.

Apparently, Msgr. Garcia found that particular Sto. Niño in the garbage in the US, and left it there when he went back to the Philippines. “But somehow, a package arrived here with the Sto. Niño inside. He didn’t know who sent it,” she said.

That story gave me the creeps for a while.

But the Sto. Niño is but one of the statues on display at the 2^nd level of Ayala Center Cebu. The display, which has been ongoing for the past 15 years now has been witness to an increasing number of Sto. Niños, some miraculous, some family heirlooms, most of age (oldest is 300 years old) and with tremendous sentimental value.

A wooden Sto. Niño with no hands, intricately chiseled and owned by Ms. Helen Bucag is placed in the entrance with Jaime Amatong’s fifth generation family piece, a six-feet tall Sto. Niño transported all the way here from Manila.

Throughout the exhibit, Msgr. Cris Garcia’s beautiful Sto. Niño statues stand side-by-side with the collections of other Cebuanos: Mr. Mark Steven Go’s Sto. Niño in the faded balay of red, blue and green; Atty. Linda Ramos’ Sto. Niño de la Justicia; and, Mr. Ben Chu’s all-black Sto. Niño with gold details, among others.

Three of the statues in the exhibit granted children to childless couples, with the children now becoming the devotees.

Near the fountain fronting the chapel, antique, wooden statues no taller than my arm stand witness to the Cebuanos who go inside the chapel to pray and petition for their health, prosperity and happiness.

The theme of this year’s exhibit is the same with that of the Archdiocese of Cebu, “Growing together in grace as the body of Christ.” The exhibit opened last January 9 to the Sinulog dances of the streetchildren of Parian. This year, the children were invited to take part in this religious commitment for the first time.

“Even if the mall gets noisy sometimes, we converge everyday at 6pm to reflect and pray. We realize that after everything, it is still Him we turn to,” said Mrs. Lourdes Jereza, exhibit curator for the past eight years.

She added, “The number of statues is always increasing. In fact, our target this year was only 35 but now there are 67 pieces. Until now, there are people who say they want to bring their Sto. Niños, the same ones they pray to at home, and share it to the public.”

She said that aside from the exhibit, the Ayala Center Cebu’s outreach program allows them to use whatever donations they get to feed 100 malnourished children in Cansojong, Talisay everyday.

Just as I was about to leave, she said that the statues are no longer about art. “The devotion of the people who own them evangelizes everyone else. Through the Sto. Niños, lives are touched,” Mrs. Jereza said.

I'm not quite sure if I got evangelized. But at least I have a different appreciation for those statues now, with my imagination running wild at the possible miracles they could have made happen.

I won't just glance at them on my way to Figaro (which is right beside it) and wonder who on earth would look at old wooden things in the middle of the mall.

I looked and it was quite nice.

Pit Senyor everyone!