Feast of the Black Nazarene

When I stepped out of the fast food center I was greeted by a boy selling handkerchiefs with prints of the Black Nazarene image, for ten pesos. Not far from him was a man also charging ten pesos for screen-printing same image of Christ on shirts and other clothes. Sta. Cruz and Plaza Miranda abound in street vendors, but that day they were tripled in number, and people who used to shop there were quadrupled--however, they were not there to shop, but to participate in the religious event.

This Feast of the Black Nazarene in the Quiapo district passes through Plaza del Carmen, Viejo, Raon, Mendoza, Hidalgo, Carcer, Aguila, Legarda, Arlegui, Barbosa, Palanca, Gomez, Ronquillo, Evangelista, Puyat, Quezon Boulevard, and Plaza Miranda. In all these streets, in every second Thursday of January, one would see thousands of barefoot devotees cheering and waving handkerchiefs in hopes of miracles.

The 400-year-old life-size statue of the Black Nazarene was purchased in Mexico and brought to Manila in 1606. Since then it reposes in a glass casket in Quiapo Church open everyday for devotees' viewing. This ebony color image is dressed in maroon velvet embroidered with gold threads.

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