The Sinulog Festival Queen is one of the most photographed highlights of Cebu City’s Sinulog Festival, the grand celebration held every January in honour of the Santo Nino. Festival queens lead their contingents in elaborate, brightly coloured costumes, dancing to drumbeats while carrying an image of the Child Jesus, a role that combines devotion, choreography and pageantry.
The photographs in this post are from the January 2010 Sinulog celebrations in Cebu. They show the festival queen in full regalia – an ornate gown and headdress made for movement as much as for display – during a festival that draws devotees and visitors from across the Philippines to Cebu’s streets every year.
For another major Philippine festival from the same season, see our Panagbenga Flower Festival 2010 photographs from Baguio City.