Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno de Quiapo

This card was sent by Janine from Philippines as a Private Swap. As she informs me, this is the feast of the Black Nazarene Procession, which is held every year at 9 of January in Quiapo. A lot of people who are devotees go to this procession. In the middle there is Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno de Quiapo a life-sized, dark-coloured, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ and there are two ropes tied to it. The devotees hold on to it as a sign of their faith.


The statue's original carver is an anonymous Mexican carpenter, and the image arrived in the archipelago by galleon from Acapulco, Mexico. Folk tradition attributes the color of the Black Nazarene to a fire on the ship carrying it, charring the image from its original fair tone into its present dark complexion. Today, the image borne in procession consists of the original body of the Black Nazarene connected to a replica of the head, while the original head portion of the statue remains on a replica of the body enshrined within the high altar of the basilica. An exception to this setup was during the 2007 feast, where both the original head and the body were combined in celebration of the Black Nazarene's 400 year history. [wikipedia]

As for the two beautiful stamps, the one on the left shows the Central Mindanao University and the one on the right is 1997 "Year of the Ox" stamp. I actually didn't know that one can use older stamps....