By Anthony Barich
OVER 800 Filipinos packed out the Redemptorist Monastery to celebrate their beloved Fiesta of Santo Niño de Cebú on 16 January where one boy was crowned in a symbolic reminder of Christ the priest and king.
Santo Niño (“Holy Child”) is a famous statue similar to the Infant Jesus of Prague given to the city of Cebú by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan when he discovered the Philippines in 1521 in the service of the Spanish Crown.
Since then it has grown into a major religious feast, and the statue, clothed in expensive textile robes mostly donations from fervent devotees in the Philippines and abroad, is the oldest Catholic relic in the country, permanently housed since 1565 at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City.
The celebrations are a major tourist attraction today, where thousands of people partake in the traditional Sinulog dance that commemores the Cebuano people’s Islamic and pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism. People come from around the country to compete for a prize.
The Santo Niño Fiesta is a month-long celebration with the Sinulog its high point on the third Sunday of January. While Perth’s Filipinos did not host this dance this time, over 800 people attended the Mass at the Redemptorist Monastery followed by a feast at the Macedonian Hall in North Perth that could only hold about 400, and many missed out.
The Santo Niño Fiesta is also celebrated in Albany, Kalamunda, Craigie, Medina-Rockingham, Nollamara and Tuart Hill, facilitated by various Filipino prayer groups. This usually starts with a nine-day Novena culminating in a thanksgiving Mass, then sharing of various Filipino food, some cultural presentation and dances.
Damayang Filipino Inc usually hold the Santo Niño Fiesta King popularity contest for children aged six to 12 to join in the fundraising to support the expenses of the Fiesta. The highest in votes is crowned the Santo Niño King of the Year.
Archdiocesan Filipino chaplain Fr Armando Carandang celebrated the Mass with Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR, newly ordained Filipino Fr Benny Calanza of the Neocatechumenal Way, retired priest Fr Dennis O’Brien and Perth’s Vicar for Migrants, Fr Blasco Fonseca.
Many Filipinos brought their children and Santo Niño statues up to be blessed, then at the Macedonian Hall a boy was crowned as part of a traditional Santo Niño King ceremony that aims to help young men become priests as they emulate the same life of Jesus.
Parents were given the privilege of pinning a special sash on them and the honorary Consul General Gerald Donnelly crowned them. The Santo Niño Fiesta was a month-long affair for Perth’s Catholic Filipino community, with a special Mass and subsequent feast on each Sunday of January at Kalamunda, Whitford, the Redemptorist Monastery and Rockingham.
The Third Sunday feast was organised by Damayang Filipino, one of several organisations set up to attend to the social needs of Filipino Australians.
The feast, passed on from generation to generation since Magellan’s time, was started in Albany in 1988 and Perth in 1989 by a small group and has now grown into a major event for the Filipino community.