Faith

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

WORLDWIDE | Monday, 7 November 2011 | Views [1617]

People also visit the church to light candles as offerings. In this image a little girl pauses her prayers, to attend to her candle blown by the wind. The number of candles lit by a person usually has a meaning. Pilgrims visiting the church on their birthdays, for example, light the same amount of candles equivalent to their age.

A common sight inside the church, the image of the Holy Child receives offerings mostly in the form of treats that little boys enjoy such as candies and bottled juices. Another common occurrence, a boy, with his grandmother, wipes his towel at the altar with the belief that it has been touched and now blessed by the Sto.Nino.

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Close to the church is a small chapel that houses the cross planted by Ferdinand Magellan upon landing in the Philippines. Here, pilgrims can hire the “Sinulog-Women” to perform a prayer-dance in front of the cross. The prayer-dance, which includes a recitation of verses while waving a candle and dancing a set of backward-forward steps, is considered as the highest form of reverence to the Sto.Nino.

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Faith

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

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