Every year, millions of Filipinos flock to Manila’s Quiapo district to venerate a dark image of Jesus Christ carrying the cross, popularly known as the Black Nazarene.

The weeklong celebration, which culminates in a religious procession dubbed as the “traslacion” that lasts up to 24 hours on Jan. 9, has always been a security nightmare.

The traslacion procession recalls the 1787 transfer of the image of the Black Nazarene from an Augustinian church in the old walled city of Manila to the basilica in the city’s Quiapo district.

There is no stopping the people’s display of piety, however, as they walk barefoot to have their own replicas of the image of the suffering Jesus blessed, or help pull the images’ carriage, and even force one’s way to climb the platform in the middle of the throng to touch the face of the Nazarene.

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