President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared January 9th 2024, as a special non-working day in the City of Manila for the annual Traslacion procession of the Black Nazarene.
The proclamation aims to provide Catholic devotees in Manila with a “full opportunity to participate in the occasion and enjoy the celebration.” The procession involves transporting a replica of Jesus Christ’s 400-year-old black wooden statue to Quiapo Church, which takes more than half a day. It usually starts at the Quirino Grandstand.
The event attracts millions of devotees, and the government typically declares a non-working holiday in Manila to ensure that people can participate.
The Feast of the Black Nazarene commemorates the anniversary of the translation or the transfer of the image from its original location at a church in modern-day Luneta Park to Quiapo.
Augustinian Recollect priests brought the image to the Church of San Juan Bautista in Bagumbayan (now Luneta) on May 31st 1606. In 1608, the icon was enshrined at the Recollect church of San Nicolás de Tolentino in Intramuros.
It was moved to the Saint John the Baptist Church, now commonly referred to as the Quiapo Church, on January 9th 1787. The "solemn transfer" eventually became the date of the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
