Faith and tradition: Some things to know about the Feast of the Black Nazarene

The Feast of the Black Nazarene is celebrated every January 9, after a nine-day novena that starts on December 31.

It culminates in the Traslacion, a procession from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church that draws more than a million Filipinos from all over the country to Manila.

The images from this event have become familiar: a sea of red and yellow surging around a carroza bearing the figure of the kneeling Christ. Devotees known as mamamasan pull on thick ropes to move the carriage down the street, as others riding on the andas (as the carroza is also called) catch handkerchiefs tossed at them, rub them on the image, and toss them back down to the crowd.

There's some order in the chaos: for an event that draws more than a million, the number of injured is still relatively small.

According to historian Xiao Chua, within the vast crowd, six groups of devotees manage the image and the andas during the procession—experienced hands with their own practices who train before the event and promote the devotion to the Black Nazarene year-round around the country.

Sacrifices small and large are made to show devotion to the Nazarene. Participants in the Traslacion walk barefoot, and try to grasp wisps and fibers of the rope pulling the andas to take home as souvenirs. Many are overwhelmed by the crowd and faint; many also join the devotion already infirm and hoping to be cured of their ills.

Over them all, the Black Nazarene kneels, its wig made from hair donated by Chinese women parishioners; its left cheek damaged by a gunshot in the 1990s.

Below are more interesting details about this massive gathering of devotion and hope.

— BM, GMA News