I was in Manila processing some documents when I chanced upon the procession of the Black Nazarene along the city hall. For the longest time, I was rearing to cover the much celebrated fiesta of the the Black Nazarene but it was only a couple of years ago when I was able to do it by chance.
The moment I was through processing the docuents, I tried to join the multitude of devotees and squeezed myself among them. Along the sidewalk, the people were constantly waving their (white) hankies and they were uttering their silent prayers while most of them joined the rest of the crowd in singing the hymm dedicated to the Black Nazarene. The young ones were more agile for they were the ones climbing the trees, poles, and even the roofs of the the sheds just to have a good view of the passing statue of the Black Nazarene. And people got into frenzy when two of the tires of the cart of the Black Nazarene went flat.
When the cart was in a standstill, devotees regardless of gender and age, were swarming the cart and pushing themselves just to reach the Black Nazarene. It was my first time to witness in person such great passion of the devotees (and fanatics). The mere thought of fighting your way in the multitude of people just to touch and kiss the Black Nazarene is a scary sight. This kind of yearly struggle and passion of the devotees is a constant sight and some of them are very much willing to risk their life and limbs just to reach the statue.
with the standstill, while they were trying to fix the flat tires of the wagon and while the devotees were fighting their way up to the statue, I squeezed myself along the sidewalk trying to find a good spot to ger more decent pictures. After a while, I found myself at the Bonifacio monument adjacent to the city hall of Manila. At that particular moment, there were still ample spaces at the main road because the concentration of the people were at the statue of the Black Nazarene several meters away from where I was standing.
At the sidewalk near the statue of Gat Andres Bonifacio, it was a bit crowded already. Each one joining the procession already lined up the outer part of the sidewalk and while some occupied the railings thereby blocking the view from behind. I had to asked someone for a temporary slot near the lamp post in order for me to get a better view while shooting the multitude of participants. After a while, I vacated my post and went to the main road to join the leading party of devotees.
The concentration of the devotees was at the wagon of the Black Nazarene. Whereas approximately 50 meters ahead of the procession, there were some free spaces to move around. I took the opportunity and managed to get into the middle of the devotees holding the ropes which were tied to the wagon of the Black Nazarene. The end of the rope was probably several meters farther from my current position.
When I joined those who were holding the ropes, I just could not imagine their enthusiasm and devotion because everyone was trying to get hold of the rope. I learned later on that those holding the ropes were different groups and each group sees to it that its members were protecting their piece of the rope.
The moment I stepped in the middle of the road and just an arm length away from those who were holding the ropes, I could immediately feel the heat, smell, noise, and agility. The heat and the different smell of the participants was overwhelming. If you are not one of them, it would be hard for you to join them and share that particular atmosphere. But it seemed the participants were already immuned and got used to it year after year of joining this event. The noise of the crowd seemed to alert them all the time and they were always on the lookout of the current position of the Black Nazarene. And they were quite agile the moment the procession started to proceed again.
When the procession started again, I got scared. Suddenly the wave of the people holding the ropes was heading towards my direction and they seemed uncontrollable. Almost all of them were barefooted and they don't bother looking where they would step next. They simply allowed themselves to be carried by the wave and if you are not used to banging yourself with someone else and your footing is not firm and your stamina is not up to it, you'll definitely end up nursing your wounds and some dislocated bones perhaps. Witnessing the uncontrollable wave of people coming at you directly was no joke and I retreated back to the sidewalk where it was safer.
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