Faces of devotion: Traslacion 2019

As devotees of the Black Nazarene poured into Quiapo Church and nearby areas by the thousands Wedneday morning, a couple and their “miracle” are making their way home.

Melvin Navayra, 42, has already been part of the mass of humanity that pulled the rope connected to the carriage of the Black Nazarene as it snaked its way through the streets of Manila in the annual procession.

Devotees hold on to the rope pulling the cart of the Black Nazarene during the Traslacion from Quirino Grandstand back to the Quiapo Church on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. Devotees believe that holding the rope will cure body pains and illnesses. Danny Pata

Now he is going home to Barangay Pansol, Quezon City with his partner, Ma. Sheila, and their three-year-old daughter, Francheska — whom the couple considers an answered prayer after 18 years of trying and failing to conceive.

Francheska, dressed in the iconic maroon shirt of the popular Catholic feast, has been exposed to the religious activity since she was eight months old, her father said.

But the young girl’s parents have spared her from the procession itself, which usually takes almost a day to complete.

Ma. Sheila said she stays around the Quiapo Church with her child to hear mass while Melvin joins the procession.

A tricycle driver, Navayra has been a devotee since 2007. He attributes his very source of livelihood to his vow or “panata,” which he fulfills every year notwithstanding the danger of injury amid a heaving crowd of his fellow faithful.

Crowd estimate

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, the police estimate of the massive crowd around the church, called the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, is 100,000. The church, overflowing with attendees, is well into its eighth hourly mass of the day.

No untoward incidents have been reported so far, the police said.

The police said the main body of the procession was at the National Museum as of 9:20 a.m., while its spearhead was approaching the Jones Bridge.

In Quiapo, where many devotees have already broken off from the procession and are resting along the closed Quezon Boulevard, the feast is apparent not only in the church, but at multiple spots where replica owners, vendors, musicians, and even tarot card readers have set up shop.

The most common item for sale are Black Nazarene shirts and towels of various colors, rosaries, and food and water. But there are also balloons, slippers, and the usual Quiapo fare of “pamparegla”—herbal concoctions said to induce menstruation when it is delayed for one reason or another—displayed at pop-up stands while the crowd moves.

And just as one of the morning’s masses ended, right in front of the Church, a guaranteed crowd pleaser stole the show: a young man gets down on one knee in front of his clueless girlfriend to propose marriage. —KG, GMA News