Thanksgiving procession kicks off Feast of Black Nazarene

The celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene has started over the weekend with the Thanksgiving procession and the start of the 9-day novena mass at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene or Quiapo Church in Manila. (Photo by Marc Reil Gepaya/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — The celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene has started over the weekend with the Thanksgiving procession and the start of the 9-day novena mass at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene or Quiapo Church in Manila.

According to Msgr. Hernando Coronel, rector of the Quiapo Church, the Thanksgiving procession is being held at the last day of the year to express gratitude to God.

“The procession is being done at the end of the year to give thanks to God,” he said in an earlier interview.

Based on the schedule of activities to commemorate the 412th years of the Black Nazarene, the novena mass started on Dec. 31, 2017 and will run until Jan. 8, 2018, every 6 p.m.

On January 7, the procession of the replica of Black Nazarene will be held around the vicinity of the church.

The highlight of the celebration will be the annual “Traslacion,” or the procession of the Black Nazarene from Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to the Basilica at Quezon Blvd. on January 9.

Before the grand procession, a eucharistic celebration will be held at the grandstand at 12 midnight of Tuesday (January 9) to be presided by Coronel and Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as the homilist.

The Traslacion will start after the morning prayer at 5 a.m.