Sinulog Festival Queen 2018 on Miss Runway competition

Sinulog is the grandest festival in the country. It is a celebration in honour of our patron of Cebu Sr. Santo Niño. It is a cultural and religious event held annually in Central Visayas every third sunday of January.

The word Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which roughly means “like water current movement;” it describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance. The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of drums.

Sinulog is the ritual prayer-dance honoring Señor Santo Niño or the Child Jesus. An image of the Child Jesus is said to be the baptismal gift the Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan gave Hara Amihan (Humanay) of Zebu (now Cebu) in April 1521. The image, believed to be miraculous, is housed at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in downtown Cebu City.

The search for Festival Queen not only shows their grace in dancing the traditional “Sinulog dance” but also their beauty, brain and talent in this competition. Each year every participant choose their queen to dance along with the group or “tribu”. These “tribu” , the contingents came from different municipalities not only came from Cebu provinces but from different parts of the Philippines.

These candidates will then wear the handcrafted costumes made by local designers showing off their skills in their crafts. In the main competition there are two categories involved namely best in Sinulog Festival costume and best in costume design. For the dance it is categorized into Sinulog-base, Free-Interpretation, and street dancing. These elegant ladies will show off altogether their beauties and dance moves not only on the runway but on the street dancing as well, honouring to Santo Niño.

Below are the parade in costume held in Sm City, Cebu.