Upscaling continuing fiestas
The decors will have been set aside until next December. Christmas and New Year have had their shares of celebration, bringing families and friends together to enjoy their reunions amid food and drinks.
While most parts of our country will have gone beyond the holiday celebrations, in Cebu, it is still fiesta time soon for Sto. Niño. Already, the devotees have flocked to masses, novenas, and processions prior to the big feast day itself, January 15. Expect more to come to Cebu City to join the fiesta and the Sinulog.
In Manila, the feast of the Black Nazarene will also draw in devotees and pilgrims, estimated at millions, as the date draws close to January 9. Novenas are now attracting thousands of believers, especially those with special prayers and petitions to lift to the Black Nazarene.
Despite the large number, peace and order have been well maintained generally for both big events. Devotees have been disciplined enough for the Sinulog solemn events. The Black Nazarene procession, however, has always been marred by reports of injuries, even deaths, of certain devotees due to unruly behavior on the part of the over-eager enthusiasts who want to draw closer and touch the Black Nazarene.
This year, we hope these feasts continue to be celebrated without any untoward incident, with every devotee protected and secured as they proceed with their worship. Armed with their faith, the devotees will not allow any fear or threat to stop them from joining these important feasts for the Lord.
Seeing Filipinos unite to worship during these fiestas is an encouraging sign for our country so divided in many ways. God is able to unite and allow partisan Filipinos to set aside their political views and even their hate in order to join with others to worship.
May God bless our country and our people with the wisdom to discern His will so that we can have a country where everyone lives in genuine peace, harmony, and respect, despite differing political views and preferences. May this special petition be among the prayers to be lifted by all devotees for these two important celebrations this January. May the devotees also include the sincere plea to God to have genuine public servants who will prioritize and pursue policies intended to serve God and our people, not their own selfish, personal agenda. May we also join together and pray for those innocent killed extrajudicially. May we also pray for those who execute the killings that God will touch them to discern and implement His justice, not theirs.
In the midst of the sacred commemoration and lively revelry of these fiestas, may all remember to honor God’s earth and manage their own garbage and keep the streets and God’s world clean and protected. May the fiesta goers and devotees put their faith and love for God and our country into genuine practice by effectively taking care of their own garbage, sorting these out later in their homes, and not leaving any waste elsewhere.
As we continue to advocate year in and out, during fiestas, especially during Sinulog, we hope that waste management teams drawn from multisectoral partners (city government, barangay leaders and residents, business, church, media, and other civil society participants) will have already been formed and prepared adequately to address the possible garbage increase during the fiestas.
The public should be properly informed about the specific designated disposal areas throughout the Sinulog route, with active waste management staff members supervising the disposal areas. Effective waste segregation during this major event can lead to profits and employment generation, especially for the needy barangay participants, not to mention the savings to be generated with less garbage to be disposed of by trucks later. If properly planned and coordinated, this year’s garbage problem may cease to be one, with proper waste management system effectively reaping the benefits, rather than the costs, of effectively segregated and decreased amount of waste.
Among those who will be busy during the celebration will be poor children waste pickers who will collect thrown mineral water containers in a sack which they will trade later in a nearby junkshop, their earnings to serve as their supper or perhaps only meal for that day.
For those who want to show their concern for these children waste pickers, can the devotees and guests instead gather their empty mineral water containers in specified areas, and the waste management teams to include the children waste pickers to help supervise these designated disposal areas in exchange for some adequate compensation at the end of the celebration? This way, the children waste pickers do not have to be burdened with picking up and carrying the waste items to the junk shop.
Also, can the Sinulog devotees and visitors be among those who will solve the fiesta’s garbage problem this year? Can we all encourage all participants of the Sinulog to do their share to manage waste effectively as their offering to the Lord for this year?
Every fiesta, aside from the sacred spiritual dimension for the worshipper, can also be an occasion to educate and guide the devotees and guests to contribute their share to maintain peace, cleanliness, and unity during the event. We look forward to floats that share, aside from pure entertainment, some value-added dimension that will allow the spectators to learn and be educated and encourage the spectators to raise their attention in gratitude to the Lord as well. The participants, for example, who practice eco-protective measures (in their attire and performances) can be given an extra award for their environmental initiative.
There are so many ways of upgrading the spiritual and secular celebration of fiestas to maximize the benefits for all, especially the needy and our environment.
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