The Black Nazarene procession in Manila, Philippines, which annually attracts one of the world’s largest crowds for a reli-gious devotion, attracted hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic pilgrims on Jan. 9. Taking place each year in January, the procession, known locally as “Traslacion,” sees devotees carry across Manila a replica of a famous life-size statue of Jesus carrying a black wooden cross. The Philippines and East Timor are the only countries in Asia that are majority Catholic, with over 80% of the population of the Philippines belonging to the Church.
The procession’s organizers estimated that about 220,000 people attended Mass before the start of the procession, Rappler reported, and at least 800,000 peo-ple were gathered at the church Thursday evening, according to the Philippine Star. Hundreds of thousands more joined the proce-ssion as it went by. As in past years, many of the devotees were barefoot and some even jumped onto the float and clutched at the cross carried by the famous statue.
The image of Jesus used in the procession is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Filipino shores in 1606 by missio-naries of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. The life-size statue of Jesus is today enshrined in the famous minor basilica popularly known as the Quiapo Church, located in the Archdiocese of Manila. First enshrined at St. John the Baptist Church in Luneta, the image was transferred to Quiapo in 1868.