Colorful festivities mark Tondo Santo Niño Feast
The Archdiocesan Shrine of Santo Niño in Tondo, Manila kicked off the festivities of the 458th Feast of Santo Niño with a motorcade of the image of the Child Jesus was along with 33 continuous fiesta masses from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, which included the blessing of Santo Niño replicas.
Both the Santo Niño Shrine in Tondo and the Santo Niño Parish in Pandacan, Manila also brought back their respective traditional dance gatherings dubbed as ‘Lakbayaw’ and ‘BulingBuling’ respectively on Saturday.
Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan, Vice Mayor Yul Servo-Nieto and City Councilors all participated in the processional dances in the city.
The Quiapo Church — which just celebrated the Feast of the Black Nazarene — posted on Facebook their motivational message to the Santo Niño Parish in Pandacan, which was affected by a massive fire in July 2020.
“Help us make Santo Niño Parish-Pandacan a home to God’s faithful community again for generations to come,” Quiapo Church said on Sunday.
The Feast of Santo Niño is associated with the initial spread of Roman Catholicism in the country due to a Santo Niño relic given to Cebu ruler Rajah Humabon by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who led a Spanish expedition which led to the discovery of the Philippines in 1521.
Meantime, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma urged devotees to continuously observe peace through an established link within the people and God.
“As we gather, we ask Santo Niño to be with us so that, first of all, we continue to strive, that we may maintain that loving intimate relationship with God,” Palma said in his homily on Sunday.
“How timely does our Holy Father remind us that peace should also be established between us and creation, because we live in one home, because we live in one planet Earth,” he added.