Ceritalah | Philippine midterm elections: as Filipinos repent during Holy Week, the nation grapples with the sacred and the profane
- The Good Friday traditions of crucifixions and whippings in the country are, in many ways, emblematic of the contradictory, often dualistic nature of Philippine public life
A man, dressed as a Roman soldier, holds up a hammer.
There’s a brief snap as the tool hits the nail: metallic but light. Another man, whose limbs are being bound to a life-size cross, winces as the metal pierces the palm of his hands. There is no blood.
It’s Good Friday and Team Ceritalah is in Pampanga, two hours northwest of Manila, during Holy Week. This is rich agricultural country and the heart of Luzon island.
Every year, scores of penitents – called mandarame – willingly submit to being crucified, often in fulfilment of a vow of some kind. Elsewhere in the country, groups of mamalaspas (self-floggers) whip themselves as they re-enact scenes from the Bible to expiate their sins.
These bloody rituals – which the Roman Catholic Church has never approved of – draws thousands of spectators in the nation where more than 80 per cent of people are Catholic.