Thousands flock to Good Friday crucifixions in northern Philippines

Mar 21, 2008, 3:51 GMT

Manila - Thousands of devotees and tourists Friday flocked to a northern Philippine city where dozens of penitents were expected to be nailed to wooden crosses in an annual re-enactment of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

The tourists mingled with devotees in two villages in San Fernando City in Pampanga province, 75 kilometres north of Manila, to witness the highlight of Easter celebrations in the predominantly Catholic country.

In San Pedro Cutud village, the main site of the annual event, 19 people have signed up for the crucifixion, according to local officials. Another 10 are expected to be crucified in nearby Santa Lucia village.

Fernando Mamago, a 37-year-old father of nine, is one of those to be nailed to the cross in Santa Lucia. He has been joining the ritual for the past 13 years.

'I started when one of the children almost died from an ailment,' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa in a telephone interview as he prepared for the ritual. 'I do this now for my family, one of my children is sick again and my wife just had an operation to remove a large cyst on one of her breasts.'

Mamago admitted the ritual was painful, but added, 'After I'm brought down from the cross, I feel so light. I feel cleansed of all my problems and sins.'

The 'Kristos' will first carry heavy wooden crosses in a procession to a dusty hill where the crucifixions are to be held.

Five to six-inch nails soaked in alcohol are then hammered into the palms and feet of each of the Kristos, after which their crosses are lifted to a vertical position for at least five minutes under the scorching sun.

The Roman Catholic Church officially frowns on the bloody rituals, but makes little effort to discourage the highly popular practices.

Foreigners used to join the crucifixion but were banned since 1997 after local officials learned that a Japanese man nailed to a cross the previous year was actually an actor being secretly filmed for a scene in a Japanese pornographic video.

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

Elsewhere, Filipinos marked Good Friday with prayers and pilgrimages. Some local television and radio stations were off the air, while others preempted local programmes with religious shows.