EZRA ELYDAN L.

VILLANUEVA
HUMANITIES II- ASSIGNMENT

CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF BLACK NAZARENE

The Black Nazarene (Nuestro Padre Jess Nazareno) that has came all the
way from Mexico through a galleon is a life-sized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture
(carver is an Aztec carpenter) of Jesus Christ which has been known to be
miraculous by majority of the people, especially its Filipino devotees. The black
Nazarene is currently enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in
Quiapo, Manila, Philippines where novena celebrations are held every Friday
throughout the whole year. Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Black Nazarene
came from a boat that caught fire, turning it from its original white into black or
burnt complexion. For almost 200 years, the Black Nazarene is carried into the
streets for procession in a "Caroza" or golden red carriage pulled through the streets
of Quiapo by male devotees clad in maroon. Every 9th of January, the feast of the
Most Holy Black Nazarene is celebrated while novena masses begin on the first
Friday day of the year, in honor of its weekly novena mass held every Friday. This
also celebrates the Translacion or the transfer of the image to its present shrine in
Quiapo. The devotion to the miraculous Black Nazarene (Nuestro Padre Jess
Nazareno) has attracted huge following among the public.
The crowds starts to form early in the procession. As time progresses it
becomes impossible to see anything but the heads and upper bodies of thousands
upon thousands of devotees. Like Christ on the road to Calvary and also as act of
penance and show of humility, barefoot men clad in maroon, the color associated
with the Black Nazarene, carry the statue of the Black Nazarene through the streets
in a carriage known as the andas, a word that originates from the Spanish word
andar, meaning to go forward. The golden red carriage bearing the figure of the
Nazarene is also known as a Caroza. The Caroza has had a long history alongside
the Black Nazarene; the structure has been used to carry the Nazarene through the
same streets for almost two hundred years in the practice of Pagpasan, which is the
act of carrying the wood of the carriage or pulling the rope the carriage is attached
to. Male devotees shoulder the carriage through the crowd with helpers called
namamasan. The namamasan, thick manila ropes in hand, pull the carriage bearing
the Black Nazarene through the tightly packed crowd, inching the procession along
its way on the streets of Quiapo.
Despite traditionally being a task for men, women, in recent years, have been
allowed to participate in the physical task of Paspasan, though only to pull the ropes
of the carriage. With the carriers and namamasan busy with bearing the Black
Nazarene through the crowd, the millions of other devotees gravitate in a massive
form towards the statue to practice the Pahawak, or touching the figure or the garb
of the Black Nazarene. Many believers attempt this feat with a focused
determination. Getting close to the dark form of the Nazarene, close enough to

EZRA ELYDAN L. VILLANUEVA

HUMANITIES II- ASSIGNMENT
touch it, means perhaps experiencing a miracle through the mystical properties of
the figure. Others devotees throw towels and handkerchiefs some even bearing a
printed image of Jesus Christ wearing a crown of thorns to the guards and escorts
surrounding the Black Nazarene and instruct them to rub the cloths on the figure.
Believers hope that some of the healing powers of the Black Nazarene may transfer
to these articles, making their owners suwerte, or lucky, in life; impervious to
kulam, or witchcraft; or restored to health, if they happen to be sick.