The annual January 9 procession has its roots in the observance of the traditional Feast of Holy Name of Jesus, the original dedication of Quiapo Church, with St. John the Baptist as its patronage.

Jose Abriol, former Rector of Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene stated that January 9 was the chosen feast of the Nazareno because it is the ninth day of the novena in honor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus which starts on January 1 which according to the old General Roman Calendar is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Circumcision of Our Lord.

[11] The festivities begin with a thanksgiving procession usually held in the late evening of December 30 before the start of its novena the following day, New Year's Eve.

This sanctity-through-contact descends from the ancient custom of ex brandea, cloth wiped on the bodies or tombs of the Twelve Apostles, itself part of the wider category of third-class relics.

Some participants choose to wait for the image inside the Minor Basilica to greet it, while most devotees walk throughout the whole processional route.

Marshals from the Minor Basilica, known as the Hijos del Nazareno ("Sons of the Nazarene"), form an honor guard around the image, and are the only people permitted to ride the ándas for the duration of the Traslación.

The Hijos – distinguishes from maroon-clad devotees by their yellow and white shirts – have the primary task of protecting the icon from damage and directing the mamámasán in front and behind using hand gestures, voice commands (sometimes through a megaphone), and whistle signals.

In addition, they help devotees clamber up onto the ándas to briefly touch the icon's cross, and wipe the image with cloths tossed at them.

From 2021 to 2023, the annual Traslación was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[19][20] resorting instead to alternatives like Padungaw ("viewing") of the Black Nazarene and hourly Masses at Quiapo Church.

However, in 2022, Masses were held behind closed doors due to a huge spike of COVID-19 cases brought by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, resorting devotees to attend online.

[26] A new design of the ándas, built by Sarao Motors,[27] was unveiled for that year's procession, featuring the image enclosed in a thick tempered and laminated glass, onboard lights for illumination at night, a sound system, and a built-in CCTV camera.

[30] The traditional Dungaw, a Tagalog calque of the rite's Spanish name Mirata, "to see" or "to view", involves the Black Nazarene, coming from Hidalgo Street, being made to stop briefly at Plaza del Carmen, a square along the southwest flank of the neo-Gothic Basílica Menor de San Sebastián, before proceeding towards Bilibid Viejo Street.

The rite, which was discontinued in the early 1900s for still-unknown reasons, was revived and reincorporated into the Traslación on January 9, 2014, after the discovery of old documents attesting to its practice.

[31] The resident Recollect priests remove the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from the principal niche of the retablo mayor, or use a replica which is termed its vicária.

Once fully dressed in precious robes and regalia, the original image, which was given to the Recollects in 1617 by a Carmelite nunnery in Mexico City, is then solemnly and silently processed on its own small ándas to a temporary scaffold erected at the southwest face of the church.

Shortly thereafter, the priests slowly turn the Virgin's image so that it "watches" the Black Nazarene and its procession depart the vicinity of Plaza del Carmen.

This illicit act was done to allow homes and businesses off the planned route to receive the good luck and blessings of the image.

[40] Such high figures were reported even prior to the pandemic; for instance, the number of participated devotees in 2015 was placed at nine million.

However, this only caused confusion as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council estimated only 300,000 devotees in the procession and the masses.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila Development Authority chairperson Francis Tolentino placed the number of the participants in the festivities at 10–12 million.

In the absence of a national liturgical directive prior to 2025, the decision to celebrate the feast was left to individual parishes and communities.

In 2024, the Archdiocese of Manila, and the rector of Quiapo Church at the time, Rufino Sescon, proposed the national observance of the feast to the Holy See.

On March 4, 2014, a replica of the Nazareno from Quiapo Church arrived at the Old Chapel of St. Rock the Healer Mission Center, Bishop's Compound, Brgy.

[48] On September 12, 2016, the newly constructed church was blessed, dedicated, and consecrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

[49] Filipinos overseas have brought the tradition of a procession and Mass honoring of the Nazareno image to countries such as Australia and the United States.

[citation needed] In September 2012, a replica of the Black Nazarene was canonically enshrined at Saint Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Parish in Reseda, California, United States.