Skywatch#67 Magellan's Cross, Cebu City

The Chapel of Magellan's Cross located at Magallanes St., Cebu City




Magellan's cross is the cross planted by Spanish and Portuguese explorers led by Ferdinand Magellan. It was a symbol of the Christianity in the Philippines and also, the city of Cebu.

The original cross is now encased inside a wooden cross housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Minore de Cebu. It is one of Cebu City's main tourist destinations.






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My World#109 (Philippine Churches Part 8): Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino, Cebu

The Minor Basilica of the Santo Niño or Basilica Minore del Santo Niño is a 16th century church in Cebu City in the Philippines. It was built purportedly on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño, a sculpture depicting the Holy Child Jesus found by Spanish explorers in 1565 preserved in a burned wooden box which was left behind during the 1521 Magellan expedition.
source: Wikipedia

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My World#108 Araw Ng Dabaw Celebration

Once again, it is our city's foundation day. Instead of a one-day celebration tomorrow, March 16, we are having a three-day celebration which started this Monday. I was looking forward to watching the annual Araw ng Dabaw civic parade but because of work, I'll be out of town instead. So, I'll just be posting photos I took last year.



Davao City has two annual festivals that locals really look forward to. One is the more popular Kadayawan Festival which is usually being held on the third week of August and this older festival, the Araw ng Dabaw (Davao Day), to celebrate our city's foundation day. March 16, 2011 is city's 74th foundation day.





There are a lot of activities lined up for this event but one of the much-awaited highlights is the civic-parade which is usually held every morning of March 16 along the main downtown streets. Well-attended and quite long (it usually lasts at least two hours), the parade usually starts with the city mayor and his city councilors at the head of the parade. Then, the government agencies preceding the private sector agencies.





What I like in watching the civic parade is that not only it is quite colorful but it also shows the cultural diversity of the city. I've also observed that the city has so many young people around than old ones which could be one of the reasons why it is considered one of the most fast-developing cities in the country.

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Skywatch#66 Out Into The Plaza

This is the plaza fronting the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino. The locals call it as the plaza but it is actually the Pilgrim Centre which was completed last 1990. It was constructed to accommodate the throngs of people who come and fill-up the basilica during celebrations like Sinulog festival.



Taken inside the basilica.


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My World#107 They Waved At Him

We were there to visit the the Basilica del Sto. Nino of Cebu City and while we were taking photos outside, we saw this...

A friend asked if I knew why people wave outside the church but I only thought that somebody was just waving at somebody who was inside the church so, I observed more and then, I saw this..

and this and more of them...

The reason: it is customary for most locals (even visitors who had known about it) to wave at the image of the Child Jesus (long considered miraculous) that is being housed inside the church as they pass by it. It was their way of paying their respects to him as they go about their daily lives. Such a nice gesture.

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