- Title: PHLIPPINES: THOUSANDS OF DEVOTEES JOIN PROCESSION OF THE BLACK NAZARENE
- Date: 9th January 2005
- Summary: (U3) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 9, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF DEVOTEES OUTSIDE SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH WITH BLACK NAZARENE COMING OUT OF GATE 0.07 2. VARIOUS OF ZOOM INTO BLACK NAZARENE COMING OUT / PEOPLE GRABBING ROPE 0.27 3. VARI0US OF MEN GRABBING ROPE 0.40 4. CLOSE-UP OF BLACK NAZARENE GUARDED BY MARSHALS 0.50 5. VARIOUS OF CROWD 1.01 6. VARIOUS OF MEN TRYING TO GRAB ROPE 1.18 7. PAN OF PEOPLE TRYING TO TOUCH STATUE OF BLACK NAZARENE / CROWD 1.33 8. WIDE OF CROWD 1.37 9. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING DOWN ON PROCESSION FROM WINDOW 1.54 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) CHITO SICOGO, BLACK NAZARENE DEVOTEE, SAYING: "The prayers being done here now, these are prayers asking God that the tragedy that happened to our neighbours won't happen to us here. These are prayers for Thailand and other countries hit by that Tsunami" 2.08 11. WIDE OF CHURCH AND CROWD / PAN TO CROWD PRAYING 2.17 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVACDZSBIYHSKHQHJD6BP3XY89O5
- Story Text: Thousands of barefoot devotees joined a procession
for the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila praying for
Asian tsunami victims.
A touch is said to bring miracles -- and this
attracts believers to get close to the life-sized statue of
Jesus, known as the Black Nazarene.
Thousands joined the procession carrying the
200-year-old statue from the church through congested
downtown Manila on Sunday (January 9)
Fireworks banged and church bells pealed as the statue
of Christ bearing the cross on his shoulder was brought
out of the church on a cart.
Throngs tried to climb up the cart but were pushed back
by marshals.
Dozens fell and crawled away over the heads of others
until they were able to step back onto the ground.
Many squeezed their way in to grab a piece of the rope
used to pull the cart or threw white towels at marshals,
asking them to wipe the cloths on the statue.
More than 1,500 police and volunteer marshals guarded
the procession which weaved across a main road and through
back alleys under a scorching sun.
The celebration is one of the largest in the
Philippines, Asia's only predominantly Roman Catholic
country.
The statue is also brought out on Good Friday.
Following mass, men wearing white shirts or maroon
robes brave heat and risk stampedes seeking special favours
or to give thanks for those already granted as they
followed the statue.
Many who joined the procession on Sunday said their
prayers were going to the victims and survivors of the
tsunami which devastated countries along the Indian ocean.
"The prayers being done here now, these are prayers
asking God that the tragedy that happened to our
neighbours won't happen to us here. These are prayers for
Thailand and other countries hit by that Tsunami," 28 year
old messenger Chito Sicogo told Reuters.
The Feast of the Black Nazarene has its roots in
17th-century Mexico, where a priest bought the statue
before bringing it to Manila in 1606. It has been at Saint
John the Baptist Church since 1787.
In recent years, the sculpture has cracked and church
officials reinforced the body with stainless steel to keep
it from breaking apart.
As the procession got under way, about a dozen men and
women fainted and were carried to ambulances, officials said.
On Friday (7 January) police said they had foiled a
suicide attack on the procession by arresting 16 suspected
Muslim militants and seizing three home-made bombs.
Police said the suspects, all Filipinos, were also
being questioned about a potential role in the bombing of
a ferry in February 2004 by home-grown Abu Sayyaf rebels
that killed more than 100 people.
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