Black Nazarene — The Traslación in Quiapo, Manila

Every January 9, Manila witnesses one of the largest religious gatherings on earth: the Traslación of the Black Nazarene. The dark, life-sized image of the kneeling Christ, housed in Quiapo Church (the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene), is carried in procession from the Quirino Grandstand back to Quiapo, drawn through the streets by millions of barefoot devotees.

Devotees — many in maroon and yellow — press forward for a touch of the image or its ropes, waving white towels and chanting “¡Viva!” The devotion is a panata, a vow kept year after year in thanksgiving or petition; the procession can take the better part of a day to cross a few kilometres of old Manila.

Traslación in photos, 2010–2014

I covered the Traslación five years in a row, from 2010 to 2014 — the crowds at the basilica, the andas inching through Quiapo’s streets, and the faces of the devotees. Click any photo to open the original post.

Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2010)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2010)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2011)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2011)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2012)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2012)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2013)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2013)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2014)
Feast of the Black Nazarene — Traslación, Quiapo, Manila (2014)

The Traslación is Manila’s great act of public devotion; Pampanga answers it each Holy Week with the Maleldo rites of Cutud, and Quiapo Church itself appears in my heritage churches gallery.