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Traslacion's return delights Nazarene devotees

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A throng of devotees participates in the annual Traslacion as it passes Arlegui en route to Fraternal Street in Quiapo, Manila on January 9, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2024/tvpatrol/01/09/traslacion.jpg"/><figcaption>A throng of devotees participates in the annual Traslacion as it passes Arlegui en route to Fraternal Street in Quiapo, Manila on January 9, 2024. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The streets of the Philippine capital turned into a sea of maroon and yellow on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Catholic devotees joined a procession in honor of the Black Nazarene in Asia&#x27;s largest Catholic nation.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/09/24/catholics-swarm-black-nazarene-in-feverish-parade">Filipino Catholics swarm Black Nazarene in feverish parade</a></li></ul><p>The centuries-old tradition of paying homage to the black wooden statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have healing powers, is expected to draw more people as the 400-year-old image, encased in glass, is paraded through the heart of Manila.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/09/24/more-than-a-million-devotees-join-traslacion">More than a million devotees join Traslacion</a></li></ul><p>An early morning estimate by police put the crowd at more than 830,000 people, excluding those waiting further along the procession&#x27;s 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) route.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2923469" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Jonathan Rancho, 52, like many others, was eager to take part in the religious procession, which in the last three years was cancelled because of COVID-19.</p><p>&quot;I am very pleased the old system is back and we get to do this again,&quot; said Rancho, who travelled with his wife and two children from Bulacan province to Manila so they could join the procession.</p><p>&quot;I prayed that hopefully this year our livelihoods will get better, I hope that my work would be a success and we be given a prosperous life so I may fulfil my obligations to my family,&quot; Rancho added.</p><p>Thousands of police were deployed to ensure order as many of the barefoot devotees tried to climb aboard the carriage holding the statue, which depicts Jesus shouldering a heavy cross.</p><p>It is not known why the statue, which was carved in Mexico and brought to the Philippines in the early 17th century, turned black. But a Philippine priest, Msgr. Sabino Vengco, claimed the image is dark through its core because it is made of mesquite wood.</p><p>About 80% of the country&#x27;s 110 million people identify as Roman Catholic, a legacy of hundreds of years as a Spanish colony.</p><div><strong>(Reporting by Manila Newsroom. Editing by Gerry Doyle)</strong></div>

The streets of the Philippine capital turned into a sea of maroon and yellow on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Catholic devotees joined a procession in honor of the Black Nazarene in Asia's largest Catholic nation.