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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Sunday, January 22, 2017
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ILOILO City – Dinagyang Festival ati-ati tribes were urged to handle with respect the images of the Santo Niño they are using as props during performances.
Past Dinagyang spectators have called the San Jose Parish’s attention about the irreverent handling of the Santo Niño images that performers used, said Father Raymundo Edsel Alcayaga.
This respectful handling of the Santo Niño images is included in the contest criteria just like in Cebu’s Sinulog Festival, he stressed.
“In the Sinulog, you can’t see performers nga ginalugo, ginawaslik-waslik lang ang (shaking the) images,” Alcayaga observed.
This year’s religious theme of the festival is “Communion of Communities in Senior Santo Niño.”
All religious activities are geared towards the Child Jesus, said Alcayaga.
The Dinagyang started in 1968, a year after a replica of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to the San Jose Parish.
The image, accompanied by devotees from Cebu, was enthusiastically received by the Ilonggos who danced on the streets of the city to the tune of rumbling drums.
Dinagyang is the Hiligaynon word for revelry or merrymaking.
“This time, we are promoting devotion to the San Jose Parish’s replica of the Santo Niño,” said Alcayaga.
The replica is enshrined at the San Jose Parish Church just across Plaza Libertad but every Dinagyang edition, the pilgrim image of Santo Niño de Cebu would visit Iloilo City. In its honor, masses and a fluvial procession at the Iloilo River would be held.
Santo Niño de Cebu is the oldest Christian relic in the Philippines. It was given in 1521 as a gift of Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Humabon and his wife when the explorer landed on the island of Cebu.
This year, however, for the first time in Dinagyang Festival’s nearly 50-year history, Santo Niño de Cebu isn’t gracing this city’s premier annual festival.
The Parish of San Jose is instead showcasing its replica of the Santo Niño de Cebu, said Alcayaga.
“We want people to do pilgrim visits to our parish Santo Niño. That’s the real essence of a pilgrimage – ang tawo ang gakadto like Muslims going to Mecca of Catholics visiting the Holy Land or the Vatican,” said Alcayaga.
During the 2015 edition of Dinagyang, the concern was more on the skimpy costumes of the performers. The most vocal about this was the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 6.
Tribu Obreros’ male performers had black T-black underwear for their costume and this generated a lot of negative feedback from spectators, said Regional Director Helen Catalbas.
“Avoid exposing dancers (to that kind of costume) especially the minors. For the girls, if they have to use tights, these should be covered,” she said.
Catalbas specifically directed her concern to tribe managers.
“We do not want to develop a (tourism) market (for Dinagyang) that is oriented towards…sex or pedophilia,” she said.
The performances must reflect Iloilo’s “authentic history and culture”, said Catalbas, but the performers’ costumes must be “decent.”
Dinagyang was voted the best Tourism Event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.
It is the first festival in the world to get the support of the United Nations for the promotion of the Millennium Development Goals, and cited by the Asian Development Bank as a “best practice” on government and private sector cooperation.
Dinagyang is Iloilo City’s version of the Ati-Atihan Festival of Kalibo, Aklan. It may not be as ancient as the one in Kalibo but is definitely impressive in choreography and striking in terms of the various attires worn by participating tribes which reflect the ingenuity, craftsmanship and artistry of the Ilonggos./PN
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