By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
Over 1.2 million devotees participated in the different activities to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila.
Based on the data released by Quiapo Church Command Center, a total of 1,268,435 devotees joined the celebrations from Jan. 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,” Fr. Earl Valdez, Quiapo Church spokesperson, said in a statement Tuesday.
A total of 925,782 devotees went to the Quiapo Church while those who were at the Quirino Grandstand were 254,653 devotees.
Another 88,000 faithful joined the “Walk of Faith” procession where they walked from the Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church on Jan. 8
The data also showed that Jan. 9 figures recorded the highest number of devotees with 709,945 while another 409,785 people went a day before.
On Jan. 6, the first Friday of the year, some 95,160 devotees participated in activities while the number of devotees on Jan. 7 and 10 were 49,175 and 4,370, respectively.
The 2023 celebration feast marked the return of some of the physical activities after being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the third straight year, organizers decided to suspend the traditional “Traslacion” or the procession of the image of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church in Quezon Boulevard in compliance with pandemic protocols. – gb
