let's just not find a logical explanation, mary jane as to why i am extremely, morbidly, freakingly afraid of the sto. niño. don't get me wrong here, i assure you that i am a devout christian. hell, i'm a member of youth for christ and singles for christ for five years and counting. (wait, i used a swear word and Christ in the same sentence. that's not right). but all that won't simply change the weird fact that the child version of Jesus Christ is something i put under the "scares the shit out of me" list, along with frogs and sadako (but frogs are more evil). of course, Jesus was . . . the same Jesus when he was a kid, but i can't understand why they would make a freaky old-looking kid in a stiff triangular dress with tons of shiny accessories as the icon of the child Jesus. for me there are two types of sto. niños. first is the one with the gaudy triangle dress, crown and holding a scepter or globe with cross on top. this version is usually small in size so that it fits the mini-altars in your homes. the other is the chubby type, dressed in simple top and shorts and bearing a long cross. this version is usually large in size and found in chapels or in commercial establishments (for luck??). but whatever type or size it is, the image of that creepy serene face with its big eyes and curly hair staring at me is something that flashes in my mind whenever i lay sleepless and paranoid at night. no, i don't think of white ladies, headless priests or bloody undead. i think of the sto. niño (well, most of the time, anyway).

i lived in a boarding house once with a sto. niño at the end of the corridor across my room. it was the creepiest one i've seen in my life so you could just imagine how fast i could run whenever i'd pass the corridors to my room. at some nights, i'd lay in my bed, sleepless (of course with the lights on) and snap an occasional glance at the locked door, feeling that the sto. niño across the hall would burst through the door and just stand there, stare at me and be all creepy.

and don't even get me started on those spiritual mediums who claim to be possessed with the sto. niño and proclaim the message of heaven in a small, tiyanak-like voice. if there's one formula of ultimate horror for me, it is this : creepy sto. niño + small tiyanak voice = me losing my wits.

maybe it's some subconscious thing that i experienced in my childhood, but i don't know, mary jane. want to psyche me up so maybe you'll understand this peculiar fear of mine? if not, then let me post here some pictures of the sto. niño. look intently--what do they say? "peace, hera, peace!!" ahahahay!!!