Filipinos And The Black Nazarene
January 9th, 2009 by Ding G. GageloniaFilipino Catholic faithful are marking the 402nd Feast of the Black Nazarene, the patron saint of Manila’s old central business and political district of Quiapo.
The district is home to the Quiapo Pro-Cathedral, shrine of the deeply venerated black-wood image of Jesus Christ bearing his cross is housed.
The statue presents Christ as he falls on his left knee from the weight of his burden as his Roman, and Jewish tormentors jeered and spat on him on the way to be crucified atop Mt. Calvary between a thief and a murderer.
Barefooted devotees of Poong Itim-na-Nazareno push and pull, in unison or against each other, as the procession snakes through the narrow city streets as they try to wipe the statue and benefit from its supposed miraculous healing powers.
But methinks the truly spiritual teaching the Black Nazarene offers is how we should each carry our individual crosses without misgiving nor grief.
In our temporal existence, suffering and challenges can only make us stronger rather than break our resolve to weather hardship, oppression, and injustice: the very wounds that Jesus endured through to his death.
In the context of Philippine society, the message of the Black Nazarene takes on profound significance given the wide gap separating Filipinos from the the government of the day.
To be fair, the national leadership works hard and takes pains to project sincerity and determination to overcome present socio-economic imbalances,
What is abundantly lacking is public faith in the leadership.
Some are mostly resigned to the situation and many are simply counting down to 2010 in the hope that honest and fair elections will usher in a positive change in leadership and governance.
Filipinos are keeping faith.
January 9, 2009 at 4:15 pm
So, you think it is a form of public theatre, in which devotees commiserate with each other and gain encouragement in bearing their own private crosses.
I like this interpretation Ding. It’s absolutely Protestant and heretical, but I like it!
You forgot to mention however the supposedly miraculous nature of this burnt wooden idol, its alleged power to cure diseases with the mere wipe of a towel that has similarly wiped the idol’s face. And of course, there is a plenary indulgence for praying devoutly before the wooden idol, wiping out even millions of years one is due to spend in Purgatory. Not even Mike Velarde has conjured up a more effective and dramatic use of that particular vignette from the Via Crucis.
But I am relieved that the CAtholic Church impresarios of this annual festival of the wooden idol chose a different venue, to prevent the deaths that have in recent years accompanied Jesus Christ, Meek and Mild on yearly sojourn around the decrepit and depressing environs of Quiapo Church, with its tiangge of abortifacients and magic cures, miracle roots and beads and meds.
The Black Nazareno event was getting to be like the annual blood stampede at the Qaba in Saudi Arabia, where our Muslim brothers and sisters attempt to touch a Black Stone of Mecca, supposedly a meteorite send by God to Abraham as a sign of the Covenant…
January 9, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Spot on DJB sir.
But I am chewing on the heretical aspect. My daughter will kill m hehehe.
But levity aside, the Archdiocese of Manila has its own BN WEBSITE.
So it is promoting idolatry of gravem images.
Then we are not in bad company, hehehe.
January 9, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Ding’s point of view is hardly Protestant at all. It’s more Post Vatican II Ateneo Jesuit! :-)
Vatican II allowed for “theatrical” celebrations of Catholic devotions like 1) The Mass, 2) The Rosary etc.
Ang Poong Nazareno predates these Vatican II innovations by the Christologically inarticultate. But the Black Nazarene is an apt icon of daily struggle. As for the wiping thingy, the Gospel tale about the woman with the flow of blood is the basis for this devotion. The Christologically inarticulate have devotions that the Protestantly literate would recognize in their Bibles.
I agree with the class analysis of the Black Nazarene procession. I haven’t heard of any Malacanang tenant that has participated in it.
BTW DJB, another Mecca ritual that may be compared to the Black Nazarene devotion is the Stoning of the Devil.
January 9, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Just for accuracy.
Quiapo Church is located in the political district of Sta Cruz.
January 9, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Okay, Blackshama, but what about the objection that this is a form of Idolatry?
The miraculous healing powers of Poong Nazareno are fervently believed in by many of the devotees, I am told by one of them, and it would seem the need to touch the face of the idol is what makes these powers available to the lucky towel holder. Many devotees invest great stock by these miraculous powers and take seriously the need to touch the idol’s face in imitation of Mary Magdalene’s act of kindness.
The Catholic Catechism is crystal clear that this is a mortal sin of idolatry.
BTW, is there an analogue to the Stoning of the Devil involved in the Black Nazarene event?