Every 9th of January, millions of devotees of the Black Nazarene flock to its house, the Quiapo Church in Manila (Saint John the Baptist Church, also called Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene), to yet again show their undying religious fervor. Seeing the feast and the procession, captured in this internet photo, easily tells anyone that the yearly event is not for the weak of heart. Certainly not for those who are weak in faith.

The procession in 2012 lasted around 22 hours. Despite deaths and injuries during the procession, devotion to the 400-year old statue of Black Nazarene, which was brought by the Augustinian Recollects to the Philippines by way of the galleon from Mexico in 1606, actually grew stronger. It doesn’t even matter that the statue used in the procession is a replica, with the original kept inside the church (since 1998, due to the damage suffered by the original statue).

The Black Nazarene was originally housed in Bagumbayan when it arrived in 1606, transferred to its current location in 1787. It has miraculously survived a number of fires and earthquakes, as well as the heavy bombings during World War II that flattened much of Manila.

Some say that this extreme expression of faith is misguided. What do you think? Share your Feast of the Black Nazarene experience through the comment section below. Here’s a documentary of the Pista ng Poong Nazareno: