After 20 hours, the Black Nazarene was finally home.
The carriage or “andas” of the 400-year-old cross-bearing Christ reached Quiapo Church through Plaza Miranda at around 2 a.m. Sunday.
The “traslacion” left the Quirino Grandstand at 5:55 a.m. on Saturday.
This year’s phase was considered one of the fastest in the past years, despite initial projection from organizers that it would finish by 4 a.m.
Last year’s procession lasted for 21 hours and 35 minutes and arrived at the Quiapo Church at 3:45 a.m.
As of midnight, the procession crowd was last estimated at 502,000, half the initial one million devotees at the start of the “traslacion.”
Meanwhile, the crowd at the Quiapo Church vicinity, last pegged at 500,000, thickened as the procession progressed.
No safety or security incidents were reported in the procession, but there were two fatalities during the feast.
As of 9:30 p.m., the Philippine Red Cross said it served a total of 1,298 patients, most of which were for blood pressure monitoring and treatment of minor injuries.
The revered icon of Jesus Christ, which was believed to be miraculous, got its ebony hue supposedly after catching fire in a galleon on its way to the Philippines from Mexico.
The annual grand procession, the largest in the predominantly Catholic country, commemorates the first parade transferring the statue from a church in Intramuros to the Quiapo Church on Jan. 9, 1767. TVJ
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