Sinulog Reunions

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

It’s Sinulog! January in Cebu is bursting with joyous music, dance, history, and cultural celebration. The vibrant parades, unforgettable costumes, the sea of people, and the food inspire jubilant garden designs. When I was younger and based in the US, I looked forward to flying to Cebu during Sinulog. My mom and other family friends working overseas were giddy when they returned home to Cebu. Every meal, outdoor concert, and dance competition we attended was a spirited reunion, a homecoming As I munched on new delicacies, the adults around the table regaled each other with their childhood memories of beloved desserts. They giggled and gleefully recalled the home cooks and barangays known for the best bingka, puto, and budbud. While I was mesmerized by the Sinulog dance competitions, my mom’s friends graciously shared Cebuano specialties like budbud kabog, linusak, masi, bingka dawa, and torta. Now that I’m much older I’m lucky enough to live in Cebu. I no longer need a 24-hour plane ride to enjoy Sinulog and Cebu’s delicacies.

Let’s bring a bit of Sinulog’s kaleidoscope of community, color, and tradition into fun garden inspiration:

Sinulog Design Activity: Think about your favorite meals, dishes, or desserts you eat or prepare during Sinulog. Think about your friends and family’s favorites. Now write down some of the common or major ingredients. I bet some of those ingredients can be planted in your backyard garden or personal farm. Next, think about your favorite activities during Sinulog. Is it the cooking, dancing, communal karaoke, spending time with grandchildren, watching concerts, or celebrating with your religious community? Whatever your preference, how can you incorporate it into the garden or farm? In my first garden design example, I use plants mainly for decoration, beauty, and some snacking. If you want your garden to produce a large harvest for your future meals, you’ll add more plants.

Now that you have a good list of plant and outdoor furniture preferences, think or ask an expert landscaper what is feasible for you. Think about your existing sunlight exposure, soil conditions, water availability, site dimensions, and other qualities of your space.

Example 1: The Sinulog Dessert Garden

In my first example, I use a small backyard garden space. It’s planted with native and decorative shrubs and trees. It features kabog (millet), saba banana, mangga (mango), and mani (peanut) plants as a reference to a few of my favorite Sinulog dessert ingredients. I also added outdoor lounges, seating, and a wooden platform as a reminder of Sinulog dance parties and family get-togethers. The seats can be easily moved to add dance space.

Here are some elements I incorporated: 1) a circular raised bed, attached seating and cute plot of kabog (millet); 2) a dwarf variety of Saba banana like Saging Mondo that grows to 2.5 meters; 3) a grafted dwarf mango in circular container;
*4) dwarf coconut trees with decorative yellow flowered-shrubs like cannas and peace lilies as a groundcover;*
*5) a circular raised with plot of peanut seedlings*

Example 2: Sinulog Versatile Outdoor Room

In this second example, I incorporated a central multi-purpose space for people who want the flexibility to convert their garden into a venue for religious services, karaoke parties, or outdoor grilling. The featured plants feature red tapay-tapay flowers (celosia) and yellow dahlias to reflect the motif of Sinulog dancers, posters, and decor. In the other garden beds, I added durable plants with colorful complementary floral/foliage like gumamela (hibiscus), mayana (coleus), and San francisco (croton). You can also add a low-maintenance, native edible fig tree like lagnub (Ficus septica var. salicifolia) for shade and beauty.