Steemit joins the Grandest Festival in the Queen City of the South

_{Credits to the owner}
During the grandest Sinulog Festival in Cebu last January 21, 2018, I really enjoyed promoting Steemit to other people with @smaeunabs and @jassennessaj. They are two among the many amazing people I have met in this community. Take a look at this blogpost and see how our SteemNulog went. Hehehe. Just a little bit of warning though, this is going to be a little bit lengthy, so I hope you'll bear with me. Shall we continue? You ready?

---

Sinulog Festival | A brief history

Philippines is known for its famous tagline "It's more fun in the Philippines." With all the beautiful tourist destinations across the archipelago, the culture and tradition Filipinos have carried generation to generation, mouth-watering Filipino cuisines and most especially numerous grand festivals, Philippines is truly a vast treasure map to consider. And Cebu is only one out of the 7,107 amazing islands which offers you tasty mouthful goodies, fabulous pristine beaches and most especially a very rich culture that will truly fascinate you in a lot of way. Cebu has a world of fun, adventure and thrill for everyone to experience. But what's more fascinating about Cebu is the people and their devotion to Señor Santo Niño, the Child Jesus.

_Source
Cebu, the Queen City of the south has one of the grandest festival in the Philippines famously called SINULOG Festival. Sinulog came from the Cebuano adverb sulog which means a water-like dance resembling the water current of Pahina river which was traditionally danced by the natives of Cebu even before the Spaniards came to spread Christianity. Sinulog according to the folklore is a dance offering to the anitos or the native idols of Cebuano ancestors. But this was changed when the Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan influenced Christianity to Rajah Humabon and its people in the year 1521. From then on, Sinulog became a prayer-ritual offered to the very image of the Child Jesus given by Magellan as a gift and a sign of Christianity.
_Source
And it was in the year 1980, where the first ever Sinulog festival was held attracting a number of devotees from neighboring provinces to offer sulog dances to Señor Sto. Niño. And now, after almost four decades Cebu has again held Sinulog Festival showcasing Filipino's talents and very rich culture.
_Source
This year is another year of abundance and it's too good not to promote Steemit to so many promising Filipinos gathered together during the festival. It was like hitting two birds in one stone -- devotion to the Child Jesus together with steemians from cebu and also sharing the good news about steemit to many attendees and devotees.

---

SteemNulog | The Journey

Since this is my first Sinulog experience after 5 long years of stay in Cebu (yeah, I'm that kind of home-buddy who always stays at home and stays away from the fears of stampede), I have kept my expectations low and my guards high. From what I've heard, Sinulog is like a vacuum cleaner pulling people in and I was warned by a friend to always be on guard. It was 5:00AM in the morning when I heard my alarm clock annoyingly waking me up. I had to leave my apartment early to avoid the pestering flow of people in the city. I have heeded this advice because I was not really blessed with height and being in the crowd is not really my thing. But all because to my impregnable devotion to Señor Sto. Niño, I together with @smaeunabs decided to come out from our respective shells and experience Sinulog 2018 with our fellow Steemians.

_{Credits to the owner}
As early as 7:30AM we were in the city proper roaming around and admiring the streets free from traffic. This was a rare event to see N.Bacalso street really that clean. Hehehe. @smaeunabs and I enjoyed seeing the smiling faces of so many excited devotees holding their Sto. Niño images and some were busy preparing themselves to witness the grand parade.

It took us a couple of minutes of hiking to get to our booth. While we were walking to get to our destinations, we have observed attractive and cheap bling bling, the preparation of several rescue teams, police assistance desk and the garbage management team.

With this alone, I could say that this year's Sinulog festival is way better than what I have heard from the previous festivals. There are a lot of policemen all over the City, securing the peace and order of the whole event. And I just felt happy and honored that the City Mayor gave the people assurance that Sinulog is no longer for party animals but an opportunity for many families to offer what they have to offer to our beloved Señor Sto. Niño.

---

SteemNulog | The Promotion slash bonding event

This was actually my first "SteeMeet-up and SteemNulog", so I personally felt excited to see the faces behind the usernames while witnessing the grand parade in front of our booth.

_{Ooops! Sorry for the stolen candid shot guys. Hehehe}

Sinulog with these amazing people is truly unforgettable. I got my first ink from @josijirafa, bonded with @smaeunabs more and got to see and know the rest of the amazing people from steemph cebu. Amazing, isn't it?

There are also cheap commissioned hair braids and free face paintings. Cool, right? All thanks to our Steemians who rendered there services for the Steemnulog! Yey!

Wait, there's more! Of course SteemNulog wouldn't be complete without sharing Steemit platform to the rest of the gals and gents in the festival. The energy, fun and wit shared by our fellow steemians were over-whelming. Plus the so many interested individuals added to the hype of the event. I and @smaeunabs were very glad to have shared Steemit and the numerous of opportunities it brings to so many students and young professionals. Here are some photos taken from the SteemNulog promotion.

_{I hope you guys will see this as soon as you sign up to Steemit. Hehehe}

"The sin of the desert is knowing where the water is and not sharing it! -- Richard Paul Evans"

---

Pit Senyor | A well-deserved finale

It's always nice to offer a thanksgiving prayer to Lord God Almighty for blessing us in our daily lives. And we have considered what happened during the Sinulog a precious blessing -- gift of friends and the opportunity to share such good news to the rest. So, around 2:00PM, I and @smaeunabs decided to leave our booth to attend a mass held at Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño.

The journey to enter the Basilica was pretty difficult because of the thick number of devotees going in and out the church. Despite of the experienced traffic, we still pursued and pushed our limits forcing our feet to bear with us until we reach the Basilica grounds. Instead of feeling tired and numb, I felt my blood rushing through all my nerves, feeling and hearing my own heartbeat in rhythm with the chants sung by all the devotees. It was such a magnificent view to witness the sea of waves from the devotees as they sing "Batobalani sa gugma".

Of course, the whole holistic experience wouldn't be complete without the traditional lighting of candles as we utter our prayers to the Lord. Candles as one of the symbols of Christianity and faith is highly respected as it represents various meanings including holy illumination of the spirit of truth. And I used to complete the mass with a five-finger prayer using five candles.

(Sorry to add this additional information to this already lengthy blogpost, I just want to share this hoping to help you) I personally struggle in spontaneous or impromptu prayers so when a mentor of mine back in high school shared me this five-finger prayer, I immediately applied it. The five-finger prayer is simple and easy to remember.

Take the hands of an angel praying for example. The thumb being the closest to your chest represents your loved ones. You start praying for them. Next is your pointing finger which represents the mentors. So you pray for your teachers and even your friends who you think have shared knowledge to you. Then you have the middle finger. Middle finger as commonly the tallest among your other fingers represents the leaders and they could be the leaders of the church, government, your community or your school. And you have your ring finger. They said, your ring finger represents weakness and thus you pray for those in pain and suffering from any kind of illnesses. Lastly, your pinkie finger. God taught us not to be selfish but to be selfless so you must put yourself after rendering prayers for the rest. In this manner, you'll never have to forget anyone when praying plus your thoughts will then be amazingly organized. Another bonus is that you'll no longer be scared if you'll be chosen to lead the prayer at least this guide will help you.

---

Author's note

Overall, my first Sinulog slash SteemNulog and slash SteeMeet-up is 4.999999 stars in rating. The 0.000001 of it is accounted for my low stamina in parties and crowd. But I'll work that out if the need arrises. Hehehe

I am also very thankful to YOU most especially for reading it till the end. I hope you didn't mind the pictures that much. I supposed to do collage but I realize its better that way. You see? At least you have a clear view of my journey. Hehehe.

And lastly, I'd like to congratulate @steemph.cebu core leaders for such a great job in putting all your effort, time and support for this SteemPromotion (during the SteemNulog) to happen. You guys are the best! Till next SteeMeet-up guys!

This is @nikkabomb saying "Better days are coming. They are called Saturday and Sunday!"

Till next blogpost everyone. Lovelots!