ILOILO City – Dinagyang Festival’s religious sadsad (worship dance) in honor of the Santo Niño (Child Jesus) will be staged this afternoon in front of the San Jose de Placer Church at Plaza Libertad.
Reverend Father Raymundo Edsel Alcayaga, parish priest, urged Ilonggos, particularly Santo Niño devotees, to participate.
The sadsad will start right after a 5:30 p.m. Holy Mass at the church.
As in past Dinagyang sadsad, devotees are encouraged to bring images of the Santo Niño and candles.
During the worship dance, participants would be exclaiming, “Viva! Viva! Pit Señor!”
“Many devotees have testified that their sadsad prayers have been answered by Señor Santo Niño,” said Alcayaga.
Dinagyang Festival started in 1967. A replica of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought from Cebu to the San Jose de Placer Church.
The image, accompanied by devotees from Cebu, was enthusiastically received by the Ilonggos who danced on the streets of Iloilo City to the tune of rumbling drums.
According to Alcayaga, the Dinagyang sadsad has been patterned after Cebu’s Sinulog Festival sadsad also in honor of the Child Jesus and not after the sadsad of Kalibo, Aklan’s Ati-Atihan Festival.
In the Ati-Atihan sadsad, devotees do a dance parade on Kalibo’s streets; in Sinulog’s sadsad, the dance worship is done on one spot only.
Alcayaga said the Dinagyang sadsad has been attracting not only devotees but also tourists. Last year, he said, there were some 4,000 participants.
Alcayaga previously said the Parish of San Jose de Placer would make sure Dinagyang Festival’s religious aspect won’t be overshadowed by the festivity’s pageantry.
The Parish of San Jose de Placer is of the three organizers of the yearly event. The two others are the city government and the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation, Inc. The three signed a memorandum of agreement on Oct. 8, 2018.
“We focus more on how to deepen the devotion to Señor Santo Niño,” said Alcayaga.
The parish formed a commission on media affairs to further promote Dinagyang’s religious aspect.
“Among others, we will come up with videos so that those who visit the parish would have a glimpse of really what is really happening during the festival,” he said.
Dinagyang is Iloilo City’s version of the Ati-atihan celebrations widely observed not only in Panay Island but also in other parts of the country. It may not be as ancient as the one in Kalibo, Aklan but it is known more for the participants’ impressive choreography and striking costumes that reflect the ingenuity, craftsmanship and artistry of the Ilonggos.
“Connecting Communities thru Culture and Faith” is the theme of the 2019 Dinagyang Festival./PN
