Blood spilled all over Cutud during the Good Friday Lenten Rites

I have actually included the Cutud Lenten Rites in my 2008 travel calendar, but in all honesty, I am not ready to see real crucifixion with my own two eyes. My day started early at 7AM, leaving Manila for San Pedro Cutud in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga Philippines with Anton Sheker.

WARNING: THE NEXT PHOTOS ARE IN FULL COLOR.

I had mixed emotions at the time. The eagerness to be out of Manila once again, but the anxiety of seeing men whipping their backs and getting crucified during high noon. Add to the fear of seeing blood splattering all over the place.

We arrived quite early for the main event. By 9:30AM we were already in Cutud. There are just a lot of people walking going to and fro.

Then we got to see men walking down the street whipping their backs. These men known in the Kapampangan dialect as “magdarame” covered their heads with black cloth and place vines that symbolizes the crown of thorns. These men perform the whipping act as a “panata” or vow of penitence done every Good Friday.

And at the strike of twelve noon, these magdarame ends their whipping activity by climbing up the makeshift Calvary, kneel in prayer and offer their whips, head cover and crown of thorns at the foot of the cross.

Once this is done, the dramatization of the Lord’s suffering begins. As I previously mentioned, the play is narrated in the local dialect, Kapampangan. The highlight of this play, which is eagerly awaited by around fifteen thousand locals and tourists, is the actual crucifixion act which lasts up to fifteen minutes long. And no, not only three men got nailed on the cross, but nineteen! It’s just too many.

The people didn’t mind the scorching heat of the summer sun just to see this event. The crowd is just too thick and the security’s is tight. I was just so lucky because I was able to get a Media Pass which allowed me to shoot from the stage allocated for the Press people, which later on, allowed us to shoot right at the Calvary itself.

The crucifixions ended at around three thirty in the afternoon, leaving me all sunburned and physically exhausted.