More than a million devotees have joined the “traslacion” or the procession of the Black Nazarene on Saturday morning.
The Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) said at least 1.5 million devotees have joined the procession as of 10 a.m.
Johnny Uy, officer in charge of MDRRMO, said the traslacion is proceeding faster by two hours compared to last year’s procession.
The parade lasted for 19 hours in 2015 and 2014, 18 hours in 2013, and 22 hours in 2012.
The annual traslacion began at 5:54 a.m. with hundreds of thousands of devotees walking with the 400-year-old statue.
READ: Black Nazarene’s ‘traslacion’ from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo begins
Devotees, wearing maroon and yellow shirts, waved their handkerchiefs bearing Christ’s face as they attempted to go near the ebony statue and wipe it with their towels.
Tens of thousands of devotees swarm the life-sized Black Nazarene statue during the annual religious procession in honour of the Black Nazarene in Manila on January 9, 2016. Barefoot men and women in search of miracles hurled themselves above huge crowds in the Philippines on January 9 to touch a centuries-old icon of Jesus Christ as one of the world’s largest Catholic festivals got under way. AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE
From the Quirino Grandstand, the procession took a seven-kilometer packed route leading to its home at the Quaipo Church.
This year’s traslacion, which takes place on a weekend, is expected to draw a bigger crowd than that of last year.
In 2015, devotees who joined the Feast of the Black Nazarene was at nine million but Paul Hinlo, head security consultant of the Quaipo Church, said the figures could swell this 2016.
Despite the surge of devotees, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has not recorded any untoward incidents except for minor injuries being treated by medical personnel deployed along the Black Nazarene’s route.
The ebony-colored statue of Jesus was brought to Manila by Augustinian priests in 1607. It is said that it got its color after it got burnt in a fire that hit the Spanish galleon carrying it. CDG
READ: Devotion to Nazarene a way of giving thanks, sacrifice