First timer Abet Lagula joins his friends and six million devotees for the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo and experiences first-hand one of the biggest demonstrations of Catholic faith in the country.

I woke up early on January 9 and ate a heavy breakfast in preparation for a long day ahead. I wore flip-flops and regular street clothes and left my wristwatch and mobile phone at home. Armed with only a borrowed camera, I met up with some friends who are Nazarene devotees at 9:00AM at the Quirino Grandstand. It was a long walk towards the path of the procession, around 3 kilometers from where we began, but no one complained. The sacrifice was part of their religious pledge for the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, one of the biggest expressions of Catholic faith in the Philippines. The feast commemorates the transfer of the Black Nazarene, a life-sized, dark-colored wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ, from a church in Intramuros to the present Minor Basilica of Quiapo on January 9, 1767.

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(All photos by Abet Lagula unless otherwise noted; courtesy of TravelBook.ph)