The Rope

The procession was about to start, two ropes would be unfurled in front of the carosa which would bear the Black Nazarene. Devotees would then pull the image from Quirino Grandstand back to Quiapo Church.

Sounds simple enough except for the fact that devotees believe the Black Nazarene can grant those with true devotion their wishes and in a country where the majority of the people live in poverty that is a major draw. As a matter of fact, that is probably the reason why it is the biggest religious festival (in terms of people attending) in the country. During the procession people will do anything to touch the statue and failing that, they will go for the rope in order to serve the image and hopefully still get their wishes granted.

Luckily, I was allowed in the cordoned off area just before image was to take its trip to Quiapo. The crowds however could no longer be contained and soon, the carosa was surrounded by the hordes of devotees. It almost seemed like a medieval siege with the different chapters bear their standard / flags to advertise their devotion. Soon, the rope was being passed to the crowd and the demeanor changed from organized nervousness to chaos. The crowd was so tightly packed now that whenever a wave pushed the crowd two or three feet in any direction, the people would not fall or trip, they would just lean over and push back.

When the rope neared my area I could see the fanatical look on people's faces, some looking so desperate as if touching the rope would bring them back from the brink of death. I really couldn't understand it and yet, as the fate would have it, the rope came closer and closer to me. In the end, it turned up right in front of my camera and all of a sudden I decided I had to touch the rope no matter what. I put my camera, which had been glued to my face until then, down and started pushing and shoving. I didn't care how many people I had to go through I had to touch that rope and after a few hefty pushes here and there I reached out and touched it. Not sure what I was expecting but after I let go I just stood there. As the rope stretched out an opening for one person seemed to open up right in front of me giving me a chance to actually join the procession instead of just rolling the rope out but as I pondered whether I should join, in that split second of hesitation, 4 people squeezed into that spot and soon the procession started moving forwards.

I took another few pictures close up and then moved back to the roof to join the other photographers.

I'm glad I went down despite all the warnings of being crushed alive, because that was going to be the only time I would be able to get that close to the rope or the image from then on. All in all close to 2 million people joined the procession and the less than 5 km route from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church took close to 8 hours to finish.