Hello everyone!
I know this has been long overdue, but I still feel the need to post this since I promised that I will blog about the whole celebration of our school's fiesta celebration in detail. I already posted the video of the Sinulog Dance Presentation of Canduman NHS Teachers. And I was glad that many have noticed it and showed appreciation. So, without further ado, allow me to share the entirety of the celebration in my perspective...
The Reason of Our Celebration
Our school, Canduman National High School, celebrates annually our School Fiesta in honor of Senior Sto. Niño every January. This is our way to show our gratitude and praise to the Child Jesus for all the things that He has done and He continues to do for our school, faculty and staffs, students and stakeholders. There will be novena masses or vigils, sinulog dance presentations from students and teachers, and of course eating!
In this blog, I would like to share and talk about the whole celebration including the preparations such as the decorations, dance practices and actual presentations. So, without further ado… let’s get into it!
The Banderitas!
In every fiesta celebration, there are always colorful banderitas hanging in the venue. Banderitas are small banners cut into triangles hanging in a festive area. For me, these banderitas hype-up the celebration because they are very colorful and they dance with the wind. Since, we are honoring the Senior Sto. Niño de Cebu, the banderitas are in red and yellow.
The photos above show the different shots of the yellow and red banderitas. The first photo was taken around 5:30 AM when we arrived in the school. The second one, was taken when I was in the school gym, and the last one was taken from the lobby of my classroom on the 3rd floor.
The Sinulog Dance Practices
The celebration of our fiesta will never be complete without the Sinulog dance presentations. Thus, students, teachers and staff, prepared a sinulog dance number to be presented on the feast day. Even if the quarterly examinations for the second quarter was approaching, we made sure that we make time to practice and rehearse.
Growing as a Catholic, I learned that Sinulog is a form of prayer through chanting and dancing at the same time. I learned further that prayers become more effective if there is more effort in it, like doing the sinulog. The idea is the same when a boy courts a woman, the boy who gives more effort will most likely get the approval of the girl.
As mentioned above, it is not only the teachers who would be presenting on the day of the fiesta. So, students also tried to find time to practice. Every grade level were tasked to dance Sinulog. A teacher coach was assigned per grade level to look after and guide them during practices. I was impressed to those students who managed their academics and dancing at the same time, especially because the 2nd Quarter Assessment was also approaching. In fact, the Periodical Test was two days before the feast day.
The Stage Decorations
Teachers are very innovative and creative so designing and decorating the stage for the festivity is not difficult. Sir Recla was incharge of the whole stage decoration including the flower arrangement and all. Mr Vega worked on the electrical connections needed. The decorations were not very grand because of the limited budget but because of the creativity of the teachers, they were able to make it very eye-pleasing and have that festive vibe.
The Novena Vigils
Our school also managed to hold nine novena vigils. It was only a vigil because it was presided only by lay ministers. To avoid disruption of classes and minimize the noise in the school gym while there was a vigil, the organizers assigned only few classes/students to attend and participate in the vigil.
Feast Day
Our principal suspended the classes for one day to give way to the celebration of the feast. The highlights of the celebration were the following:
- The Fiesta Mass
- The Banquet
- The Sinulog Dance Presentations
I was on my best mood during the feast day. I was basically excited for the food and dancing. My apology that I included this in this post, I don't think it is necessary though.
Anyway, our fiesta celebration started with a Holy Mass presided by the parish priest of Nativity of Mary Parish, Canduman, Mandaue City. It was attended by teachers, some students, and stakeholders.
The chairs and tables were in a banquet set-up because after the Holy Mass, it would be the time for us to partake the food we ordered from a catering services. Of course, we needed to shell out 350 PHP per head. It was a bit pricy because our principal invited special guests to attend the celebration... Well, I was just being hypothetical.
Right after the Holy Mass since it was not yet twelve o'clock, our principal and some retired teachers, danced Sinulog. Each one of them was holding their Sto. Niño. The teachers from the back joined them in their dancing.
When the dancing was done, we sat back to our chairs to rest. Of course, it was also the time for us to take pictures. So, here are the my circle in my workplace...
By the way, I already changed my t-shirt before the holy mass started because I thought that the sequence would be holy mass, lunch, then teachers sinulog dance, and the last would be the students' dance presentation. So, I made sure I was already wearing our simple costume or dance uniform.
After maybe ten minutes, the catering services finished setting up the buffet. The lechon was also displayed in another table, so it was the time for eating!
Our table was situated closest to the buffet so when the emcee announced that it was time for eating, I was the first person in the line. 😀 Sorry, I was really starving already. I only drank milk for breakfast. In fact, I was not able to take pictures of the food, but I remember that aside from the lechon, there were also beef steak, fish fillet, chopsuey, buttered chicken, lasagna, caldereta, fruits, sweets and refreshments.
Here's our simple costume and props for our Sinulog dance. It was just a printed dri-fit shirt with the image of the Child Jesus we bought for 150PHP, black pants, white sneakers, these two prop candles made of folders, bond papers and construction papers, and the Sinulog headband.
After lunch time, people (mostly students) were crowding the school gym, and student dancers were seen wearing their festive costumes. And at exactly 1 PM the emcee started her spiels that the Sinulog Dance presentations would start.
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 10
Grade 11 and 12
I was not able to capture the presentation of the Grade 9 students because we were instructed to line up already for our dance presentation. But, for sure it was a very colorful and impressive performance.
My Self- Reflections
That would be all for now! Thank you for reading! Cheers!
🍻