Festivals are public events celebrated or held either for religious reasons or secular purposes. The activities often involve carefully planned programs or ceremonies, outpourings of admiration, rejoicing, or high revelry. In many cases, especially in pious societies, traditional secular celebrations normally include a religious service.

But secular celebrations, as distinguished from religious observances, are not centered on the holy significance of the event. In a general sense, a secular festival is held purposely as a public honoring of outstanding persons, or to commemorate important historical or cultural events, or to re-create cherished folkways.

The origin of communal celebration is a matter of assumption among scholars. Folklorists believe that the first festivals arose because of the anxieties of early peoples who did not understand the forces of nature and wished to conciliate with them. The most ancient festivals were associated with planting and harvest times or with honoring the dead.

There is general agreement that festivals came about as man's way of communicating with divine beings and are, therefore, originally religious in nature. But as these celebrations became a fixture in man's way of life, they soon took on dimensions other than religious. Many have continued into the modern times as secular festivals-still with some religious overtones, but only as a matter of historical connection.

The Sinulog, as a secular festival, fits this description. It may have started as a personal dance of supplication-for safety, good health, fair weather, and abundant harvest. Then, perhaps, people thought it would be more effective if they pooled their prayers together. So they began to dance the Sinulog in groups. And when they did, it began to look like a public celebration.

For a long, long time after the native Cebuanos were converted to Christianity, the Sinulog was performed by individual dancers that would gather into a small group at church patios. There was no uniformed choreography; each dancer invented his or her own steps. This particular Sinulog dance, a dance of prayer, is still evident today among old women dancers at the Basilica del Santo Niño. This is the religious Sinulog.

The dance that is performed during the Sinulog grand parade is something else. It is Cebu City's cultural festival, in much the same way that Kadaugan sa Maktan of Lapulapu City is a historical celebration and the Panagbenga of Baguio City a seasonal festival.

It is, of course, out of place for one to go and watch or participate in the Sinulog parade as a form of prayer.

But some people think that it is irreverent to make a religious exercise into something else, like, for instance, in the case of Sinulog. The complaint is mostly coming from those belonging to the Christian faith. It must be remembered, though, that this prayer dance was not even Christian in the first place. To this day, the performance of the religious Sinulog is restricted to the small yard fronting the church entrance. It is not clear whether the Catholic Church recognizes the ritual dance as a creditable Christian practice.

Yet the opposition to the frenzied, mischievous behavior that often show up during the Sinulog parade is, indeed, a point worth looking into. If Sinulog is to be an authentic cultural festival, perhaps there is need to dig deeper into its history, to see if in the olden days-back in the time of pagan Cebu-rowdiness and hoots were actually parts of the original Sinulog dance.

As societies change, the characteristics of their traditional festivals may also change. New festivals, like the Sinulog, emerge as others fade away. Today, we no longer have the linambay, a theatrical festival famous in old Cebu. Some festivals remain unaltered for generations, but many that survive have taken on different characteristics.

The value of Sinulog as a secular festival is obvious. For participants, it is a tonic. For observers, it is a spectacular entertainment. And it brings a corresponding dynamism to the local economy. This, however, is not to say that the same benefits would not have been enjoyed if this annual festival remained as a highly dignified event.

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