The organizers of this year’s Black Nazarene Feast predicted that there will be a record mammoth crowd as many as 15 million Roman Catholic devotees are expected to participate in the procession of the world-renowned Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church in Manila.
Based upon the latest situational report released by the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, the attendance today, January 9, 2016 would surpass the crowd size during the past five years or since the year 2011.
According to the organizers of the Black Nazarene Feast, from 2011 to 2015 about six to 12 million people attended the event from January 7 to 9, with an annual growth rate of 20 percent.
One of the reason why the organizers expect 13 to 15 million people to attend the celebration was because the Black Nazarene Feast falls on weekend. The growing number of fiesta devotees will add up to the regular Friday and Sunday devotees.
Another factor for the 15 million expected crowd was the declaration of the City Government of Manila making Quiapo Fiesta 2016 an international pilgrimage event.
The Feast of the Black Nazarene celebrates its 410th anniversary since the day the event started a few hundred years ago.
The religious event is celebrated every year in Quiapo during the first two weeks of January. It starts with a thanksgiving procession at dawn of Dec. 31, a Marian procession in the afternoon of Jan. 1, a replica procession on Jan. 7, the “Pahalik” or kissing of the Black Nazarene on Jan. 8 and the traslacion procession on Jan. 9.