Some Sinulog 2021 activities cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Local government and religious officials in Cebu City have decided to simplify next year's celebration of Sinulog Festival in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A big tourism draw, Sinulog is the famous event held in honor of the Sto. Niño (Holy Infant Jesus) every January.

In an advisory posted on Facebook, the Cebu City government and the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño said some Sinulog-related activities will not be observed during the 456th Fiesta Señor to avoid mass gatherings.

Among activities canceled were:

• Penitential Walk with Jesus on the Opening Salvo
• Penitential Walk with Mary on the last day of the Novena
• Traslacion or the transfer of the images of the Sto. Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe from Cebu City to Mandaue City and from Mandaue City to Lapu-Lapu City
• Fluvial procession and the reenactment of the first baptism, planting of the cross, and first wedding
• Solemn foot procession
• Proposed Cebu Provincial Pilgrimages

"The Augustinian friars and the Executive Committee of the Fiesta Señor, with the support of the Cebu City Government, will reappropriate the cancelled external activities to the upcoming 500 years celebration of the Arrival of the venerable image of Sr. Sto. Niño in coordination with the activities of the Archdiocese of Cebu in April 2021," the statement read.

The Feast of the Sto. Niño is celebrated in the predominantly Catholic Philippines in remembrance of the virtues of Jesus Christ as a child.

Aside from the traditional procession and Catholic masses, the Sinulog festival also features street parties, concerts, singing contests as well as beauty pageants. —KBK, GMA News