At 11 a.m. on 3 January 2024, devotees waiting for replicas and banners of the Black Nazarene to be blessed formed a line from Carriedo Street to Quiapo Church in Manila. The blessing continued through 4 January. It preceded the pahalik—the kissing or touching of the image—on 6 January and the feast on 9 January.
About two million people were expected for the wider celebration. Police planned to deploy roughly 15,000 personnel, including more than 5,600 along the procession route. The 3 January queue was not for direct access to the four-century-old image. It was a preparatory religious service through which communities brought their own replicas and standards into the ritual sequence of the feast.