In May 31, 1606, the Black Nazarene, a life-size wooden sculpture, was brought by galleon from Mexico by the first group of Augustinian Recollect friars. Enroute, as folk tradition relates, the statue was damaged in a ship fire, and it original white complexion was burned into a charred discoloration, henceforth, earning the name "Black Nazarene."

Referred to as the Nuetro Padre Jesus Nazareno de Qiuiapo, It has been enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo since the latter part of the 1700s.

The story of its survival is in itself miraculous. As it has survived the galleon ship fire, it has also endured other great fires that ravaged Quiapo in 1791 and 1929, the earthquakes of 1645 and 1863, and the World War II bombing of Manila in 1945.

Devotion to the BlackNazarene is a yearlong celebration, with weekly novena masses held every Friday, starting the first Friday of the year, and January 9 celebrates the feast of the Black Nazarene.

Friday, January 7, Quiapo was abuzz.
The streets were clogged with commerce and devotees.
with more than its usual Friday bustle and hustle.
The Nazarene celebration was inching to its Sunday culmination.
A profusion of crimson-colored commerce.
Cellophaned statuettes and silk-screened handkerchiefs,
scarfs and towelletes, all bearing a Nazarene logo,
side by side the usual commerce
of religion, the alternative and the fringe.
Fortune tellers and tarot card readers,
Candle offerings and amulets galore.
A pregnant woman haggling on a "buntot page"
sold on its preventive and curative powers.
Vendors spewing out recipes for herbal concoctions
for taming errant husbands
or for casting spells against his mistresses.

This is the third year for Luneta as venue
for much of the weekend activities,
a much larger place
to accommodate the multitude of devotees
that continue to increase each year.
The Black Nazarene will be taken there Saturday,
to receive the long lines of faithful
coming to fulfill heir promise or panata,
to pray for a miracle, a favor, a plenary indulgence,
or to wipe and empower their pieces of cloth.

I arrived there early afternoon, the place still calm.
the grounds being set up with movable barriers and fences.
A few sects claiming spaces, hanging banners,
singing hymns as they decorated their Nazarenes.

When I returned Saturday noon, I was told
In some kind of ruse , the Statue sneaked in
about three in the morning.
Someone advised: Kung gusto mong pumunas,
ngayon na, habang maikli ang linya.

The image carried in the processions consists of the original body of the Nazarene connected to a replica of the head. The original head portion remains on a replica of the body enshrined in the basilica altar. In the 2007 feast, in celebration of the Black Nazarene's 400-year history, the original head and body were used in the procession.

The early birds were staking their spots with blankets, tents and ground covers, all adorned with statues of the Nazarene, some as old as the owners' "panata," many make-do altars, big and small,
atop boxes and chairs, jeepneys and tricycles, many adorned with colorful collars or ephemeral garden of flowers. And each statue, big and small, draw unending lines of believers, silent in their prayers, wiping their shirt, hankerchief, towel or scarf on the Nazarene's face or cross – sundry pieces of cloths, now empowered, to call on for protection, for a favor, for a healing, for a miracle.

The panata, so essential to the devotion of the Nazarene. Perhaps, from a promise inherited from parents long gone. From a favor granted, a prayer answered, or a desperate need. The promise, the vow, the panata, perpetual, so deeply personal, that beckons them back, year after year.

One lady, now 36 years old, tending her baby, gladly shared her story. . . a panata started by her parents, when she was a child. She has been coming since, every year for the past 27 years.

By late afternoon, the park ground in front of the grandstand filled up fast. Footpaths snaked around camped spaces, Nazarene floats, and a scattering of commerce. Food stalls, balloon vendors, Nazarene trinkets, statuettes galore. A profusion of floats and ground altars, old and new, simple and ornate. Prayer candles sold and lit. Bare-chested men waiting for theNazarene image
to be silkscreened on their shirts. Maroon colorfully dominating the clothing and commerce of the landscape.

In the grandstand, the Nazarene statue received the unending line of faithful patiently shuffling on long-long lines, snaking four-deep, to wipe their pieces of cloths, to utter a hurried prayer, make a promise, renew a vow, or give thanks. While a giant television screens magnifies, and monster speakers amplifies, continuous servings of homilies and litanies, masses, prayers and hymns.

As night descends, streetlamps light up the ephemeral village of devotees, as thousands of candles
cast flickering illuminations on countless Nazarene altars. At three in the morning, the Nazarene lines were stopped, to prepare for the morning's procession. Weary devotees tried to catch some sleep, curled up under the floats, on blankets or cardboard matsor bare on their backs on asphalt pavements. Many more stayed awake, expectant and adrenalized by what would unfold in a few hours.

At the break of dawn, Luneta was astir.
People continued to trickle in.
Many with their Nazarenes in tow.
Slowly, the decibels of activty grew.
The grandstand altar invoked the devotees
to a call of prayers.
To which they knelt,
hands held to the sky.
joining in lines of litanies and choruses of hymns.
And on and off, urged into animated responses,
in unison, twirling thousands of colored shirts,
towel, and handkerchiefs in the air.

And from a safe distance, I watched the Nazarene go by.
Barely visible from the surrounding cluster
of yellow-shirted carriage escorts and marshalls
adeptly catching offering of cloth from the air,
handkerchiefs, towelettes and shirts,
thrown back to devotees, hopeful a miracle has been rubbed on it,
or now empowered, for someday to call or ask a favor of it.

Also read:
Nazarene Festival 2016
Nazarene Festival 2012
Quiapo
Philippine Festivals