The streets of Manila's Quiapo district here in our country will be celebrating the Black Nazarene Procession with throngs of people following the statue through the neighborhood in hopes of a miracle.
The procession, and the accompanying Feast of the Black Nazarene, takes
place every year on the second Tuesday in January. It is usually the
single largest festival of the year in the Philippines.
The Black Nazarene is a life-sized statue of Christ that a priest
bought in Mexico and brought to Manila in 1606. Since 1787 the statue
has been housed at Saint John the Baptist Church in Quiapo. For more
than 200 years the church has been placing the statue on a gilded
carriage every January and pulling it through the streets of Quiapo.
People who touch it are reported to sometimes be healed of diseases.
Catholics come from all over Manila on the chance that they will be
able to get close enough to touch the image and perhaps receive a
miracle. They also throw towels to the police who guard the statue and
ask them to rub the towel on the statue in hopes of carrying some of
that power away with them...
The Philippines is the only country in Asia where Roman Catholics make up a majority of the population.
The statue is also brought out on Good Friday.
