Manila (BLAZETRENDS).- The Philippines celebrated this Holy Thursday with flagellants and dramatic re-enactments of the passion of Christ in various locations in this nation, which has the largest Catholic population in Asia.
In Bulacan province, north of Manila, flagellants lashed themselves with bamboo-tipped whips until their backs were bloody, and passion reenactments included the penitent’s crucifixion on the cross.
The floggings also took place in the province of Cavite, where this tradition goes back to the years after the Second World War, when after the defeat of the Japanese, the fishermen were able to return to fishing and thanked their luck by simulating the passion of Christ during the Holy Week.
On these days there are also parades of images of Christ, the Virgin and other figures from the New Testament in processions, called “karosas” or “andas” in Tagalog due to Spanish heritage.
Another tradition on Good Thursday and Friday in the former Spanish colony is the “Visit to the Church”, which consists of a tour of seven temples, which this year is carried out with practically no restrictions due to covid-19.
crucifixions
Tomorrow the famous crucifixions of San Pedro Cutud, in the province of Pampanga, will take place after three years of cancellations due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Thus, the Filipino penitent Rubén Enaje, 63, will be nailed on Good Friday for the thirty-fourth time to a wooden cross, with which he emulates the passion of Christ.
“I will offer this to people who have been affected by covid, and I ask our Lord that this disease will suddenly disappear because many people have suffered because of the pandemic,” Enaje said in a March interview with Filipino News. .
Enaje will drag a heavy 37-kilo cross for 2 kilometers through the streets of San Pedro de Cutud, before the palms of his hands are pierced to be crucified.
Crucifixions are not sanctioned by the Catholic hierarchy, but they have become the best-known face of Philippine Holy Week, attracting thousands of tourists each year.
With more than 90 million faithful, the Philippines is the country with the most Catholics in Asia – more than 80% of its population – and the third in the world, only behind Brazil and Mexico.
The suspension of rites and processions due to covid-19, in 2020 and 2021 strictly and partially in 2022, was something unusual in the Philippines since World War II, something that did not even happen during the years that the dictator Ferdinand Marcos ruled under martial law (1972-81).
