Dinner Dance and Festival Honoring Santo Nino Holy Infant Jesus to Feature Performance by KalayaanUSA Cultural Ensemble

The biggest festival and celebration in the Philippines is once again coming to America this coming Sunday, 1/17/16 at St. Michael Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland with the public invited to participate.  The “Sinulog” celebration, equivalent to the U.S. “Mardi Gras” celebration in New Orleans, Louisiana, is an annual cultural and Catholic religion festival centered in Cebu City, Philippines, to honor the Santo Nino de Cebu, the Holy Infant Jesus.  The statue of the Holy Infant Jesus at a Church in Cebu is an icon of the Philippines known to Filipinos throughout the world including the United States.  As many as 5 million Filipinos – Catholic as well as other Christians – have been known to converge on Cebu City during the final, massive and colorful parade of the nine days long festival each year in January.   

Sinulog Festival Location
2016 Santo Nino Festival/Sinulog/ Ati-atihan
St. Michael Parish
805 Wayne Ave.
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
Sunday, January 17 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM
(the Mass ends at 6 PM so non-Catholics may arrive then)

Philippine American Heritage Council members and subscribers to the e-newsletter it publishes, this KALAYAAN NEWS, will be traveling to Silver Spring, Maryland (a suburb of Washington DC) this Sunday to participate in the Sinulog festival.

The KalayaanUSA Cultural Ensemble, also sponsored by Philippine American Heritage Council and by Follow the Dream Beauty Pageant led by Council member Alma Gohn, has been asked to put on a dance performance at two different times during the Sinulog festival.  Alma Gohn also operates a beauty boutique in Red Lion, PA.

This is the fourth performance by the brand new KalayaanUSA Cultural Ensemble, which will unveil a large banner with their brand new logo for the first time at this festival, reports Valerie Shutt, the dance troupe’s leader and co-founder.

The logo includes a picture of the sun from the Philippine flag and the USA Statue of Liberty to show how the performers celebrate American and Filipino traditions.  KalayaanUSA is looking for new members who wish to learn authentic and traditional dance and music combinations honoring their Philippine tradition who are also enthusiastic about the chance to express appreciation for American freedom.

You may write RSVP@KalayaanUSA.org if you would like to join the group to either participate in their new (and free) classes or if you wish to support their appearances by attending future events.  News of their performances will be posted here at KalayaanNEWS, to subscribe (free) write KalayaanNEWS@PhilippineAmericanHeritage.org and you will receive an e-newsletter each time a new post is placed on this website.

Other dance troupe’s will also be performing at the Sinulog Festival, which is a free dinner dance event with entertainment which especially welcomes non-Catholics to participate this Sunday.

Participants and attendees are requested to bring their Holy Infant Jesus’ image for blessing and veneration during the mass, then with the audience participation at the event after the mass and are also encouraged to bring a dinner-dish to share.

For those who have already attended Mass that day in their own Parish or who are not Catholic and do not wish to be a part of the Mass, they are most welcome to arrive at or after 6 PM.

This event is hosted by the FilAm Ministry at St. Michael Parish in cooperation with the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC).

On the Facebook Event page (https://www.facebook.com/events/1704352476471322/ ), created/hosted by Grace D. Valera, the Executive Director of MHC, the following information for the Sunday event were provided:

EXPERIENCE the PHILIPPINES’ MOST VIBRANT FESTIVAL right here in the U.S.A. and feel BLESSED always !

See you all at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on the 3rd Sunday, 17 January 2016 for the 5 p.m. mass followed by colorful festivities of SINULOG/ SANTO NINO/ ATI-ATIHAN with FREE dinner and dance. BUT DO FEEL FREE TO SHARE A DISH ALSO..Any small dish or dessert will be more than welcome !!!

This is a FREE EVENT, open to everyone (even non-catholics are welcome to have this rare experience to share the blessings and fun!). Dinner/dance & ati-atihan festivities right after the mass. MHC will be lending costumes to revelers that evening. Please bring your Santo Nino images during the mass…

Dance to the music of DJ Bon Wills

Organized by the Fil-Am Ministry of St. Michael in cooperation with the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC).

Venue : 805 Wayne Ave., Silver Spring, MD.
It’s a Sunday so there will be FREE STREET SIDE PARKING and in the nearby parking buildings. Just avoid parking at the open area of WHOLE FOODS SUPERMARKET.

For more information, pls email gracevaleraheritage@gmail.com or call 202-247-0117 (Grace Valera), 202-631-8856 (Jesse Gatchalian) and Tony Calaro 240-460-3609

Additional information of other religious events were also included:

A series of Santo Nino/Sinulog/Ati-atihan festivities await you even in other Catholic Churches all over the US capital region and beyond…

10 January 2016 from 2 p.m.-Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C.

17 January – 5 p.m.St. Michael, 805 Wayne Ave., Siver Spring, MD (FREE EVENT)

2pm St. Mary’s Rockville, MD (Ticket dinner fee requested)

3 p.m. St. Columba Church, Oxon Hill, MD

4 p.m. Christ the King Church, Silver Spring, MD

24 January- St. Rose of Lima Church, Gaithersburg, MD

06 February (Saturday)- Aklan Atiatihan U.S.A. (Marriott in VA Beach c/o Astrophel and Leelyn Tejada

Meanwhile, at St. Augustine Church, 243 N Lawrence St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, Filipino-American community there, will also celebrate the annual commemoration of the Feast Day of the Sto. Nino de Cebu, called Winter Sinulog 2016. The mass and celebration starts at 11:00 AM Then followed by light luncheon at Carr hall.

The above information was shared  Yolanda Taurozzi, on her Facebook account, to her friends and family connected with her on that social media, including the chairman of PAHC, who she met in person at another Filipino-American summer event in Chester County, PA.

More about Sinulog

Once a year a thousand bodies move as one in a festive beat of drums, gongs and other musical instruments, to give energy to dance and movements in the Philippines. It is called Sinulog, in Cebu City, within the Visayas Region of the Philippines.

It’s a 9-day festival celebration, to honor the Santo Nino, which is an image of the child Jesus. That culminates on the 3^rd Sunday of January. A line of lovely women, called the Festival Queens, dressed in elaborately designed gowns and accessories, are the second highlight of the parade. The held the sacred icon, each of them are carrying, up high in a ritual dance. It is a symbol of Christian faith and the countries pagan past.
Large group of musicians and dancers from around the country move up and around the city, dressed in very colorful costumes, forming a carousel of pump and pageantry. Dances and music provided by big bands from different schools within the country, entertain the huge crowd that come every year and gather during the festival week.

This celebration has attracted millions of spectators, not only within the Philippines, but also visitors from other countries. This festival gives a boost in the tourism industry of the country, especially Cebu City. It is essentially a celebration of life and faith and considered the mother of all festivals, being the grandest, loudest and longest festival celebration in the country.  The Festival is also copied in many parts of the Philippines and other countries, where there are large number of Sto. Nino devotees, who originated from the Philippines, to honor the Holy Child and to share the culture and heritage of the Philippines with others, especially the following generation of their own family and friends and also with citizens of their adopted country. (for some reason no one can explain SANTO is always abbreviated STO, which sometimes confuses our American friends, such as the one helping with this newsletter).

(The Wikipedia Report) The Sinulog celebration lasts for nine days, culminating on the final day with the Sinulog Grand Parade. The day before the parade, the religious Fluvial Procession sponsored by the Archdiocese of Cebu is held at dawn with a statue of the Santo Niño carried on a beautifully decorated boat which sails from Mandaue City to Cebu City, decked with hundreds of flowers and candles. The procession ends at the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu where a re-enactment of the baptism to the Christian faith (that is, the acceptance of Roman Catholicism) of Cebu is performed. In the afternoon, a more solemn procession takes place along with the major streets of Cebu City, which last for hours due to large crowd participation in the event. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinulog