On Good Friday, in the Philippines, Catholic zealots were tied to wooden crosses while others whipped their backs red and raw in violent displays of religious devotion.

While the majority of people in the deeply devout, predominately Catholic nation spend the day at church or with their families, some engage in practices that are frowned upon by the Church to atone for sins or seek divine intervention.

An estimated 15,000 residents and tourists watched blood-soaked re-enactments of Jesus Christ’s dying moments in different villages north of Manila.

Hundreds of men walked barefoot through small streets with bamboo whips in their hands, wearing vine crowns and fabric over their faces.

Blood poured down their backs, soaking the tops of their trousers and splattering onlookers gathered in front of shops and houses.

Some flagellants paused to prostrate themselves on the ground in order to be beaten with flip-flops and pieces of wood.

When their wounds stopped gushing blood, their skin was poked with razor blades or a wooden mallet embedded with glass shards to make them bleed.

After whipping his back in preparation for the major event in San Juan hamlet, Daren Daren Pascual, 31, said, “I do it for my family’s health”.

He further said, “You just pray, and then you don’t feel any pain”.

In the last act, three men were led by dressed Roman centurions to a dirt mound, where two of them were bound on wooden crosses.

Wilfredo Salvador, a short and wiry former fisherman who played Jesus Christ, had nails driven into his palms and feet as tourists snapped photos and movies with their smartphones.

After a few moments, the nails were removed and Salvador was dropped to the ground. He was taken on a stretcher to the medical tent for a check-up before being transported home in a tricycle taxi.

Salvador, 66, who started participating in the crucifixion 15 years ago after experiencing a mental breakdown, stated, “He (God) gives me physical strength, unlike others who cannot bear it”.

“I chose to do this. I’m grateful that God gave me another chance at life”, he added.

The spectacle has been performed for decades on Good Friday in the villages surrounding San Fernando, but the crucifixions have been postponed for the past three years due to Covid-19.

Participants were forewarned by the health authorities that being nailed and beaten could cause tetanus and other illnesses.

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