Unlikely Eyyyvangelizers: How BINI Enriched Our Regional Youth Day 2024

If there’s one gesture that was ever present throughout the Regional Youth Day (RYD) 2024 of Western Visayas and Romblon last July 22–25, it would be the trending “Eyyy.”

To perform this gesture, say “Eyyyy” while extending your hand in a “Y” shape, with your thumb and pinky sticking out and your other fingers curled down. Shaking your hand is optional. Known as the “shaka” or “hang loose” gesture, it originated in Hawaii. Initially tied to surf or hip-hop culture, its current popularity in the Philippines is attributed to the Nation’s Girl Group, BINI. Their recent use of the sign has sparked a revival of this trend locally.

For the whole duration of Regional Youth Day 2024, no picture-taking is complete without the automatic prompt to “Eyyy.” It also completes almost all opening and closing spiels of hosts, which would now sound awkward or dry without it. You’ll hear it when the crowd is amazed, or amused, or surprised, or excited. And since RYD is also an avenue for reunions, “Eyyy” can be heard every time pilgrims bump into friends and acquaintances.

During the fellowship night, I happened to chance upon a bishop curiously asking a group of young people what the sign meant. I didn’t hear how they explained it, but I just saw them moments later taking a group photo with Bishop enthusiastically doing the trending hand gesture. As a youth minister for more than a decade now, I am used to hearing the stereotype of how the young and old people in the Church just can’t get along because it is impossible for them to understand each other’s different cultures and vocabulary. What I witnessed during RYD was different: young people and old people being open and curious of each other’s differences, appreciating each other’s gifts, enriching each other with their presence and complementing energies.

One of the highlights of the Fellowship Night was the singing of “Karera” and “Salamin, Salamin” — two of BINI’s hit tracks — by the clergy and seminarians of the Archdiocese of Jaro. Just after the instrumental and the first line were played, the crowd burst into shouts and dancing. It was a welcome surprise. I cannot but feel elated and emotional as well. My reaction was: “Really?? Our priests are singing our favorite BINI songs for us?!” I cannot imagine how they’ve intentionally picked the songs (which would be understandably new and foreign to them) and spent a considerable amount of time learning them.

I believe that most of that excitement came from realizing how someone, especially our father figures in the Church, went out of their way to learn something important to us to bring us joy. It was the same appreciation I felt when someone exerted effort to watch a movie I said was important to me, to read a book I said changed my life, or just simply check out a meme I found extremely funny. It was the joy of being thought of, of being seen, of being considered. That night, it was a clear and powerful message: that the Church wants to relate to us, young people.

In his homily for the Closing Mass of the Regional Youth Day 2024, Bishop Marvyn Maceda of the Diocese of San Jose de Antique also referenced the BINI performance as the starting point for his challenge to the young pilgrims of Western Visayas and Romblon:

Kagabi po ay kinanta natin at sinayaw ang kantang “Salamin, Salamin.” Sino ba ang kumanta at sumayaw no’n? Sina Father ano ho? Yung mga kaparian natin sa Archdiocese of Jaro. And then some of the words of the lyrics I sort of remember: “Mahiwagang Salamin, kailan ba niya aaminin kanyang tunay na pagtingin? Mahiwagang Salamin, ano bang dapat gawin bakit ang puso’y nabibitin?”

Now, let us imagine for a moment that it is Jesus who is saying this song to us. Imagine Jesus in front of the salamin and singing this song for us. And He sings: “Salamin, salamin sa dingding nasaan na ang pag-ibig? Salamin, Salamin sa dingding, pwede mo bang sabihin? Salamin, salamin sa dingding nasaan na ang pag-ibig? Salamin, Salamin, kailan ba niya ako papansinin?”

He is singing for us: for you, for me, for all of us! When will we say our “Yes” — the real “Yes?” Not the Yes that fades, hindi yung Yes na pansamantala. Hindi yung Yes na malakas ngayon pero nawawala bukas. The Yes that has no commitment. No, that is not the kind of Yes that Jesus asks from us. The real Yes — the genuine Yes. Kailan natin siya papansinin sa kanyang imbitasyon sa isang malalim na ugnayan at relasyon — to an intimate relationship that goes beyond music and dancing, to an intimate embrace of trust and total surrender to His will? I know the answer is “Yes” in your hearts. I know it. We are ready to be sent!

Honestly, when I heard the first “Eyyy” during the first day of RYD, I was worried of how the BINI fandom will be received by other people, especially our priests and mentors. Just recently, BINI was ridiculously branded as ungodly and a form of witchcraft by some religious groups for supposedly corrupting the youth with its message. I also thought it would alienate those pilgrims who are not familiar with it and take away the spotlight from the religious messages of the occasion. However, how the BINI songs and the “Eyyy” became unexpected vehicles for conversations, communion, and reflection during RYD was definitely the work of the Holy Spirit, who continues to surprise us day by day.

With RYD 2024’s theme, “Pilgrims of Hope, Bearers of Light,” I was reminded of our role as missionaries in this modern world: to be a counter-culture, not by opposing and being afraid of all things new and secular, but to creatively transform them into unexpected media of evangelization. We are called to consecrate the modern world by utilizing all things — even our favorite BINI songs — for the purpose of spreading God’s truth, love, creativity, and goodness.

Oh shux! All beauty is God’s beauty, even when it comes from surprising sources.