Filipinos love the Sto. Niño, the little child Jesus. Come to any Filipino Catholic home and chances are you will see an icon of the Child Jesus occupying a special place in the altar.
The image of the Sto. Niño first arrived in the country when the Spaniards came here. History tells us that when our ancestors were baptized, the Spanish priest gave Queen Juana, wife of the chief, a sacred image of the Sto. Niño. It has survived a number of fires, including one during World War II and remained unscathed. The same image now resides in the Basilica del Sto. Niño in Cebu City where it receives thousands of devotees on the third Sunday of January every year.
Last January, to coincide with this feast, a group of devotees of the Child Jesus called Congregacion de Niño Jesus exhibited hundreds of images of their patron. We were able to go to that exhinit at the PNB Building at the Government Center in Pasay City. Since taking of photographs was allowed, I took several pictures of the beautiful images.
As a sign of their love and devotion, Filipinos love to dress up the Child Jesus in fineries.
Here are some of the numerous Niños on display.
i had no idea that the sto. nino image comes in these many forms!
ReplyDeleteActually I've seen some Sto. Niño personalities but I've never seen that many images in one place! They were all so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteang dami! some even looked like play dolls diba!
ReplyDeleteInspiring images. Thank you for posting.
ReplyDelete