A simultaneous “traslacion” (procession) of the Black Nazarene will be held on His feast day on Jan. 9.
Fr. Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of the Quiapo Church in Manila, revealed that aside from Manila, at least seven areas will hold their own traslacion on the same day.
Badong identified these areas as Tagum City in Davao, Catarman in Samar, Nueva Vizcaya, Palawan, Bicol, and Cagayan de Oro City.
For the first time, Douglas said Batanes will also hold the traslacion as well as the United Arab Emirates.
In Manila, the traslacion will start at the Quirino Grandstand around 5 a.m. after the morning prayer.
Monsignor Hernando Coronel, rector of the Quiapo Church, explained that the simultaneous trasclacion is the way of different communities to show their love for the Black Nazarene.
“This is to show our love for the Nazareno, who is one with us,” Coronel said.
According to Coronel, the image of the Black Nazarene is not unique to Quiapo as there are other countries where the image is also venerated and revered.
“There is this place which we will be visiting in Panama together with some Filipino youth friends. In Portobelo, they call it the Black Christ. Their latest fiesta we even covered it via social media. So, this is really becoming worldwide,”
he said.
With the number of devotees growing yearly, Church officials expect the number of participants in the whole celebration of the Feast of Black Nazarene to be more than 21 million this year.
“More than 21 million we are confident with that,” said Fr. Danichi Hui, parochial vicar of Quiapo, said.
Last year, 21 million participated in the feast beginning Dec. 31, 2017 until Jan. 9, 2018.
Authorities said there were some 2.5 million who joined the actual procession last year. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)