EDITORIAL — Isn’t there a better way?

Every January, devotees of the Black Nazarene gather in Manila for the Traslacion, the procession of the statue and its carriage around Quiapo church.

What unfolds is a scene of chaos; devotees have been known to gather in a human crush that threatens to squeeze the life out of or even trample those who aren’t strong enough to save themselves. In their zeal to get to the image they have been known to climb over one another or clamber up the carriage.

They have also tampered with barricades to stall the carriage or redirect its route, or even clashed with the police or with each other for the honor of pulling the ropes of the carriage.

It’s not for the faint of heart. In fact, four people died during this year’s Traslacion; a photojournalist died of exhaustion, a devotee died after being run over by the carriage, another devotee died of cardiac arrest while another died of a head injury. A total of 1,019 devotees needed medical assistance, of that number 390 sustained injuries after co-devotees fell on them.

There was also fighting among groups of devotees along Arlegui Street where groups of devotees were seen exchanging punches and chasing each other.

For the 2027 Traslacion, church authorities are mulling possible changes in the andas, crowd management, and the route of the procession for Nazareno 2027. We are sure they didn’t like that the event took 31 hours to finish or that four people died and hundreds were injured.

We cannot deny that the faith and devotion of the Black Nazarene’s devotees are among the strongest in the world. Who would go to the lengths that they do? Faith and devotion takes on many forms, even forms outsiders may not fully comprehend or understand. Try explaining to a foreigner how a crowd of people shouting, shoving, and jostling each other to get close to statue are actually worshipping?

However, we are sure it would hurt Jesus a lot to see people getting hurt, harming others, or contributing to mayhem supposedly in his worship.

Isn’t there a better way to parade the Black Nazarene around its usual route without the occasion becoming literally dangerous or life-threatening to its devotees? Can’t devotees show their devotion without putting themselves or others at risk of injury or even death?