The Sinulog Festival is done in honor of Santo Niño (the Child Jesus) and it is usually held for 9 consecutive days in Cebu, with the Sinulog Grand Parade usually commencing from the third Sunday of January. The famous parade also primarily commemorates the Filipinos acceptance of Roman Catholicism (when the image of the Child Jesus was handed over as a gift by Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan to the king and queen of Cebu in 1521), thus transitioning from their former pagan or animist beliefs.