MANILA, Philippines — Foreign and local tourists witnessed Roman Catholic fanatics as they had themselves nailed to crosses in a bloody display of religious frenzy to reenact Jesus Christ’s crucifixion yesterday, Good Friday.
Roads leading to the crucifixion sites in San Fernando, Pampanga; and Paombong, Bulacan, were tainted with blood as hundreds of bareback flagellants whipped themselves with bamboo whips after having their backs slashed with “kudlit” – a piece of wood embedded with glass shards.
The reenactments are frowned upon by the Catholic Church but have become freak tourist draws.
In San Fernando, the gruesome real-life reenactments of the crucifixion began at 11 a.m.
Faith healer Arturo Bating, 44, spread his arms and maintained stoic calm as neighbors hoisted him onto a wooden cross atop a sandy mound, then drove 10-centimeter (four-inch) nails through his palms.
“This is a vow I had made to God, so that He will spare my family from sickness,” the penitent, swathed in a white robe, told AFP after his ordeal, which lasted several minutes and was seen by hundreds of people.
“It was a bit painful, but bearable,” added the first-timer, who now intends to take part in the ritual every year.
Two other devotees were swiftly nailed on to the same cross in the village of San Juan, on the outskirts of the northern city of San Fernando.
Alex Laranang, 57, told AFP he had had himself crucified every year for the past 12 years.
“I had made a vow to do this every year until I die,” said Laranang, who sells snacks aboard buses for a living.
“I do not expect anything in return. I do this for my God.”
Like Bating, he said the physical pain was a minor inconvenience.
“I hardly feel any pain. The nerves have been deadened.”
He added: “After this, I go home, eat and go to sleep. After two days I go back to work.”
In the nearby Barangay San Pedro Cutud, local officials said up to 20 were scheduled to be nailed to crosses during the day.
In Barangay Kapitangan, Paombong, five penitents, one of them a female faith healer, were nailed to wooden crosses at a man-made Golgotha beside the Roman Catholic chapel to fulfill their Holy Week vows.
First to be “crucified” was Rogelio Marcos, of Barangay Sto. Rosario here. This was the fifth time Marcos had himself nailed to the cross to fulfill his vow. He was followed by Rogelio Tanael, another resident of Barangay Sto. Rosario.
Faith healer Priscilla Valencia, whispered prayers after local residents acting as “Roman Centurions” hammered stainless nails soaked in alcohol on her palms and feet.
Relatives of Valencia, who escorted her while she was carrying a wooden cross toward the crucifixion site, said that this was the eighth time the female faith healer was nailed to the cross. They said Valencia was doing it to fulfill her vow as a faith healer.
Michael Valencia and Joey Sacdalan were the last two penitents to be crucified.
Relatives of Sacdalan said that he has no plan of getting nailed to the cross this Holy Week but her sick mother reportedly asked him to perform his Lenten vow for one more time.
Midnight Wednesday, people flocked to the Kapitangan chapel to witness the bathing of the icon of Sto. Cristo – the patron saint of the barangay. The image was bathed in perfumed oil, which was later distributed to devotees who believe the oil has healing wonders.
Jo Clemente, chairman of the Bulacan Tourism Convention and Visitors Bureau (BTCVB), said the crucifixion site in Barangay Kapitangan was spruced up to give more space to the thousands of tourist witnessing the bloody Lenten rites.
He described the bloody Lenten rituals as the only tourism attraction in the province that gained strong following even without promotions.
The Catholic Church has maintained that the reenactment of the passion and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ is just a “popularized religiosity.”
Diocese of Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros said that Christians were not asked to imitate what Jesus Christ had done more than 2,000 years ago.
“The Lord taught us to come carry our cross daily and follow Him. He did not say come and reenact my crucifixion,” Bishop Oliveros said.
Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy Alvarado said police teams were deployed in different public assistance centers to assist motorists and the thick crowd that flock to religious places in the province.
He said that emergency teams and first aid stations were also set up by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office at the crucifixion site in Barangay Kapitangan, the Divine Mercy Shrine in Marilao, the Grotto in San Jose del Monte City, and at “Banal na Bundok” in San Miguel, Bulacan, where a mountain that looks like a sleeping Christ can be seen.
Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said earlier this week that while the church did not encourage the extreme show of worship, it does not fault those who would go through it.
“We do not judge and condemn, but we discourage it,” the church leader said on Catholic radio Veritas.
Crucifixions are the grisliest, but by no means the only extreme acts of penitence on show in the country, Asia's largest Catholic outpost where the sect counts some 75 million adherents.
Many Filipinos practiced more practical acts of piety like visiting a series of churches on foot to pray during the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday holidays.
But dozens of barefoot male devotees with black facial hoods whipped their bare backs bloody with strips of bamboo tied to a string as they went around San Fernando neighborhoods on Thursday and Friday.
They were followed by groups of children who covered their faces as blood from the whips sprayed on to their clothes.
source: mb.com.ph
