By Hans Amancio
Thousands of devotees from all walks of life endured the intense summer heat as they gathered in Manila for the “Salubong” and “Traslacion” in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival in the country of the first image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel yesterday.
With an enormous crowd of Marian devotees at its tail end, the 400-year-old icon, placed on a carriage or “carroza” adorned with fresh flowers, left the Quirino Grandstand at around 8:25 a.m., following a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The followers of the procession – the elderly, children, and disabled – prayed as they clutched onto their brown scapulars, which has been associated with the image recognized as a sign of faith and devotion.
Church volunteers together with policemen combined security efforts as the crowd grew larger throughout the procession. Amid the jampacked streets, a church volunteer from the Hijos del Nazareno passed through the crowd untroubled.
“Actually, ang ine-expect nga namin, mas marami pa dito. Madaling araw pa lang, naka-antabay na kami. Pero pag dating sa Quirino Grandstand, wala halos tao. Nakatulog pa nga kami eh,” MJ del Rosario of the Hijos del Nazareno said.