Sinulog Festival 2010

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Philippines. The festival honors the so called vision of the child Jesus, known as the Santo Niño (Holy Child), who used to be the patron Saint of the City of Cebu(since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano peoples Islamic and pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.

The festival features a street parade with participants in bright colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan" performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is usually held in the Cebu City Sports Complex.

The Coronation night of Miss Cebu 2010 was held at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino. Performances were outstanding and production quality was superb.

Ati - Atihan Festival

The Ati-Atihan is a festival in honour of the St. Niño, celebrated in the third week of January. During the last three days of this week-long festival (fiesta), a parade is characteristic. A colourful happening with celebrants who paint their faces in many different ways and who are dressed in the most exceptional costumes. The dancing on the rhythms of the drums makes this festival comparable with carnivals in Rio in Brazil! The Fiesta is celebrated in Kalibo on the island of Panay (Visayas) Philippines. The Origin of Ati-Atihan: In the thirteeenth century, long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, light-skinned immigrants from the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) in Indonesia arrived on Panay. The local people of Panay, the Ati (negritos), a small and dark (black) kinky-haired people, sold them a small piece of land and allowed them to settle down in the lowlands. The Atis themselves, lived more upland in the mountains. One time the Ati people was in need of food because of a bad harvest in their homelands. They cam down to the lowland inhabitants to ask for some food. They danced and sang in gratitude for the helping hand. A real friendship was born and the Maraynon started to paint their faces black in honor of the Atis and took part in the fiesta.