Nailed to crosses to express their faith

MANILA: More than a dozen penitents were nailed to wooden crosses across the predominantly Catholic Philippines yesterday, while others beat their backs bloody in gory re-enactments of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death.

The main site of the Good Friday crucifixions and flagellations was San Pedro Cutud, a village in the northern province of Pampanga, where 10 penitents had 7.6cm nails hammered into their palms and feet on wooden crosses.

The crosses were then lifted for at least five minutes for each penitent, whose outstretched arms were also tied with cloth to prevent them from falling.

Signpost painter Ruben Enaje, 58, led the crucifixions in San Pedro Cutud and was nailed this year for the 32nd time. Nine other residents were also crucified in San Pedro Cutud and the nearby villages of San Juan and Santa Lucia.

“I will do this as penance and thanksgiving to God as long as I physically can,” Enaje said. “This is a small sacrifice for all the blessings my family has received since I started doing this.”

In the town of Paombong in Bulacan province, a woman faith healer was among at least three devotees nailed to the cross for the 13th year.

Thousands of devotees and tourists witnessed the crucifixions in the villages, where dozens of barefoot and hooded men walk around beating their backs bloody using whips fitted with bamboo sticks. Others carried wooden crosses or lay on the hot pavement as men flogged their backs.

“I do this for my family and relatives, so that we will be kept safe always,” said a 25-year-old penitent who identified himself only as Mark, as he lashed his back during a 2km walk to the cathedral in San Pedro Cutud.

The Catholic Church does not encourage these extreme acts of faith.

Archbishop Romulo Valles, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, urged devotees to instead focus on practices of prayer, almsgivings and fasting as penance.

“True almsgiving helps us to stay away from greed and self-centredness and inspires us and allows ourselves to be Christ-like to others,” he said in a message to Filipino Catholics.

“Fasting allows us to experience the pain and misery of the poor around us,” he added.

Easter is a major religious event in the Philippines, where more than 85% of the population is Catholic.

Most of the week had been declared public holidays to allow Filipinos to go home to their hometowns or take holidays. Most government offices, private companies and commercial establishments were closed on Thursday and yesterday. – dpa/ African News Agency (ANA)

PICTURE: AP/AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY (ANA) Devotees dressed as Roman soldiers lift Ruben Enaje on a cross, after he was nailed to one for the 32nd time in his life, during a re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s sufferings as part of Good Friday rituals in the village of San Pedro Cutud, Pampanga...