Filipinos in Portugal Celebrate Sinulog Festival at the Basilica da Estrela in Lisbon
The Sinulog dance performers, dressed in bright-colored costumes, danced gracefully to the rhythm of the drum.
25 January 2018 LISBON — The Filipino Community in Lisbon, Portugal, celebrated the Sinulog Festival on 21 January at the Basilica da Estrela in Lisbon.
Close to three-hundred churchgoers attended the Holy Mass in honor of the Feast of the Santo Niño, which was officiated by Lisbon´s Cardinal, His Eminence Dom Manuel Clemente. The yearly Sinulog Festival and Mass is organized by the Philippine Chaplaincy in Lisbon, headed by the Rev. Jovito Osalvo, SVD, Chaplain of the Filipino Community in Lisbon.
The highlights of the celebration were the re-enactment of the arrival in Cebu of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the baptism of Raja Humabon and Hara Humanay and the Sinulog dances in honor of the Santo Niño.
Aside from the Filipino Community in Lisbon, among those who attended were members of the Diplomatic Corps, officials from the Portuguese Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of the Sea, Lisbon local government, and other friends of the Embassy and of the Filipino Community. The event was covered by Diario De Noticias, a major newspaper in Portugal, which described the celebration as an event that keeps the Filipinos´ roots alive here in Portugal (www.dn.pt). END
For more information, visit www.lisbonpe.dfa.gov.ph.
Watching the Sinulog performers before the Mass were Cardinal of Lisbon Dom Manuel Clemente, Ambassador Feria, and Dr. Jose Manuel Marques, President of the Commission for the Commemoration of the 5th Centenary of the Circumnavigation of the World by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan.