Feast of Sto Nino (Child Jesus) Sinulog Celebration
On the 20th of January 2019, St Mark’s hosted the Feast of Sto Nino, a celebration to honour the Holy Child Jesus. This is the 5th year the Filipino Community in Brisbane have gathered at St Marks to celebrate this important religious and cultural event that occurs annually on the 3rd Sunday of January. This Filipino Feast began on the island of Cebu and marks the beginning of Christianity in the Philippines.
Our celebration began with a procession into the church with each devotee carrying their Sto Nino statue and placing this at the front of the altar in readiness for blessing. Father Joseph warmly welcomed everyone to St Marks including 2 Filipino priests – Father Saldie Resolado and Father Terry Nueva who joined Father Joseph in celebrating a wonderful mass. The congregation really enjoyed Father Saldie’s Homily and he had everyone joyously calling out the phrase “Viva Pit Senyor”. Leilani Deverala and the Sto Nino Devotees singers (who were mainly children) sang in English, Tagalog and Bisaya and they did an amazing job!
The street parade to the school undercover area followed and this part of the celebration was very happy and vibrant with everyone dancing to the Sinulog music holding their Sto Nino up in the air and dancing! There was joy in the faces of all the devotees and each one called out “Pit Senyor”. Despite the heat during the parade, everyone took part, as this is the time when individuals plead for their prayer to be granted and to express their gratitude and thanks for the blessings provided by the infant Jesus.
Many devotees stayed for a traditional feast of Filipino food that everyone brought to share (including 3 pigs on the spit). More dancing followed, the raffle winners were drawn and small gifts were given to the children. Our celebration concluded with Father Saldie cutting the delicious cake made by Belen Armstrong. With Sinulog music playing the volunteers then packed and cleaned up after another successful and joyous Sto Nino celebration.
