The annual Feast of the Black Nazarene ritual which always astounds the world for the extreme show of Catholic devotion, launched yesterday with the holding of Pagpupugay which takes the place of Pahalik.
As a precaution amid the lingering pandemic, Church officials postponed the tradition of Traslacion and instead, a “Walk of Faith” procession will take its place to mark the annual festivity.
“Dear brothers and sisters, and fellow devotees, let us start the to our beloved Jesus Nazareno!”
That was how Fr. Hans Magdurulang started his homily on the mass held Friday midnight at the Quirino Grandstand, marking the start of the three-day celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
Pagpupugay or tribute to the Black Nazarene where devotees line up to wipe towels and handkerchiefs to the replica of the Black Nazarene then followed.
Organizers consider this as a much safer alternative to the tradition of kissing the replica in violation of health protocols to prevent new outbreaks.
Around 3,150 devotees lined up for the first twelve hours of the event, figures from the Command Post of Quiapo Church showed. The celebration is the highlight of the yearly festival of the Manila religious center.
Nazareno 2023 Adviser Bro. Alex Irasga encouraged devotees to practice proper health and safety protocols.
Always wear mask
“We hope that devotees wear their masks. They’ll be reminded by devotee-ushers to properly wear masks. They should also bring and apply sanitizers before holding the image to avoid fears of a virus contamination,” Irasga told Daily Tribune.
Organizers also reported 6,245 devotees to have flocked to the Quirino Grandstand as of 4 p.m., and 24,863 devotees around Quiapo Church, as of 5 p.m.
Heavy rain disrupts queue
A downpour affected the control of devotees entering Quiapo Church, resulting in a brief commotion among churchgoers and “Hijos” or church ushers.
Irasga told Daily Tribune that crowd control at the grand stand were part of the ‘dry run’ ahead of Monday’s feast which mainly involved hourly masses at Quiapo Church.
Some devotees tried to cross the exit point at Quezon Boulevard to enter Plaza Miranda, which was against the implementation of having only two entry points in Carlos Palanca and Villalobos Streets.
“Our original plan is for people to cross only two identified entry points, which are Carlos Palanca and Villalobos Streets. However, since it’s raining, people wanted to enter the Church since the rain caused some problem,” Irasga said.
Monitoring weather conditions for the coming days, Irasga said those in charge of the festivity were surprised by the sudden intense downpour given that weather reports from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration show a small chance of rainfall on days ahead and during the celebration.
“We were relieved by the reports that show that, from 6 to 9 January, there will be no rainfall. This is why we were shocked to experience the kind of heavy rainfall yesterday,” Irasga said.
He said the Fiesta Committee plans to set up tents for “prayer stations” with LED screens starting Monday to cater to devotees who could not enter the Church premises, vowing to set up these tents early to avoid future issues on crowd control during the celebration.