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by Valerie Tort

A gruesome Good Friday made me realize how important life was and how people do unusual acts just to prove they were worthy of God’s grace. Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga was our destination towards an enlightenment of our hearts and a purification of our minds last Lenten season. I’m ready to face what I am about to see, but still a bit nervous on how frightening and horrific it would be — a real-life cricifixion.

Victor showed no fear while he was smoking a cigarette, and waiting in line for his turn on the cross. He just happily chatted with some of the townsmen in his Kapampangan dialect. When asked by Pilipinas.ph regarding what he felt before being crucified, he said that he felt an ordinary day will just pass.

But he cried out and openly wept as the five-inch, (13-centimetre) stainless steel nails—pre-soaked in rubbing alcohol to disinfect them—were driven through his palms with the ordinary carpenter’s hammer. He moaned with extreme pain while some of his assistants secured his feet with a rope and positioned his other palm to be open since it was the next one to be nailed.

I though everything was just an act. I have never thought that nails would really be driven right into his palms. A bit of blood dropped from his hands.

After nailing his palms, his feet were also secured with the stainless steel nail. It was hammered in the center of his feet.

The crowd was just watching without any violent reactions. Some were taking pictures and videos as a souvenir of their trip in Cutud. Some felt it was a theater since they ate some chips or nuts while watching how the crucifixion was done.

Victor was one of at least 19 Filipinos who underwent ritual crucifixion on Good Friday in the northern village of Cutud, as part of a bloody annual spectacle that continues to shock tourists and outsiders in this devoutly-Roman Catholic nation.

It was his 17th year imitating the Passion of Christ, and said he was doing it so his mother would recover from a chronic illness. He did not say what the illness was.

But there was also personal ambition in his pain.

“In just two more years, I will be the one playing the Kristo (Jesus),” meaning he will get the coveted position of carrying the cross.

Being a Kristo in this crucifixion was a big achievement for them. They have thought that playing the role of Christ would mean more sacrifice and more blessings.

Panata or sacrifice was the main reason for doing crucifixions. This sacrifice is a form of their devotion to God and how willing they were to feel the pain in return for a brighter tomorrow. Panata would always be a part of Philippine rituals and traditions passed from generation to generation.

Nine men were crucified under the burning sun in Cutud village, north of the Philippine capital while 10 others also underwent the same ordeal a few hours earlier in the nearby village of Santa Lucia.

Continue reading Good Friday Crucifixions in the Philippines >>