MORE than one million devotees physically joined the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila where face-to-face activities were held for the first time since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Data released by the Quiapo Church Command Center showed that 1,268,435 devotees joined the celebrations from January 6 to 10.
“This is far from the 5 million total projected during the pre-pandemic Traslacion, but double the number during the pandemic Traslacion,” Quiapo Church spokesman Fr. Earl Valdez said in a brief statement.
A large majority of attendees — 925,782 — went to the Quiapo Church while 254,653 devotees showed up at the Quirino Grandstand.
Another 88,000 faithful also joined the inaugural “Walk of Faith” procession from the Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church last Sunday.
Data also showed that the January 9 (Monday) feast day saw the highest number of devotees with 709,945 while 409,785 showed up last January 8 (Sunday).
The first Friday of 2023 (January 6) also saw 95,160 devotees showing up while January 7 (Saturday) and January 10 (Tuesday) saw 49,175 and 4,370 devotees, respectively.
The 2023 feast of the Black Nazarene marked the return of nearly all physical activities that were mothballed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022.
The event excluded the grand procession of the Black Nazarene and the traditional “pahalik” wherein the devotees were allowed to kiss the iconic image.
Held instead were the “Walk of Faith” and the “pagpupugay,” where devotees were allowed to touch and wipe the image of the black Christ.
