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The Sinulog Festival of Overseas Filipino Workers in Hong Kong: Meanings and Contexts

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1683478x.2012.10600859

2168-4227

Enrique G. Oracion,

Socioeconomic Development in Asia

The Sinulog Festival is a festival originating in Cebu City in the Philippines, celebrating the Cebuanos' conversion to Roman Catholicism; it is held on the third Sunday of January and honors the Santo Nino - the Santo Nino de Cebu - or Holy Child Jesus. The festival is wellknown for its street parade, and especially for its exuberant dancing. Sinulog, which comes from the Cebuano root word sulog, or water current, is a description of the forward-backward bodily movement of dancers which mimics the flow of the water current in time with the beat of a drum or drums (de la Calzada 1965 as cited in Bautista 2010: 220). Over the years, the Sinulog Festival has become staged in a variety of different overseas locales. In Hong Kong it is conducted by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are mostly domestic helpers. This report examines the Sinulog Festival in Hong Kong, exploring a cultural heritage that crosses borders, physically and socially, and considers how its meanings have changed in its Hong Kong context.