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January 10, 2018

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Frenzy for miracles from Black Nazarene

Source: AFP | 00:01 UTC+8 January 10, 2018 | Print Edition

A sea of heaving, towel-waving humanity swarmed a black statue of a cross-bearing Jesus Christ in the Philippine capital yesterday as the Catholic faithful joined one of the nation’s largest religious festivals.

In a frenzied display of religious fervor, men, women and children climbed over heads and shoulders and flung themselves at the centuries-old Black Nazarene that they say performs miracles.

Devotees pulled on stout ropes to move the carriage forward as the procession drew more than half a million people wearing maroon and yellow shirts and waving towels while chanting “Viva” (“Long live”), Manila police said.

The statue was passing through streets of old Manila lined with bystanders yesterday afternoon en route to its home in the Quiapo church in a lengthy parade that usually takes 20 hours or more.

“It is really tough climbing to get to the Nazarene. I get squished, and people step on my face. But I have a devotion,” Honey Pescante, a 24-year-old housewife from Bataan province, said.

The Philippines is Asia’s Catholic bastion with a flock of more than 80 million. Spain colonized the archipelago in the 16th century and spread the faith.

The wooden Black Nazarene was brought to Manila by missionaries in 1606 and is believed to have survived calamities.

More than 700 people were injured in the procession, one of them with a suspected cracked spine in a fall while attempting to climb onto the carriage, the Philippine Red Cross said.

Pilgrims risk life and limb to touch the icon with towels believing the Black Nazarene has miraculous powers that will be transferred to the cloth. In 2016, two participants were killed.

The near-suicidal displays of devotion have drawn frequent criticism in the Philippines, with some saying it resembles pagan worship.

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