AP: A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace

[Cooked Crack]

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.

 

On Friday, over a hundred people watched on as 10 devotees were nailed to wooden crosses, among them Ruben Enaje, a 63-year-old carpenter and sign painter. The real-life crucifixions have become an annual religious spectacle that draws tourists in three rural communities in Pampanga province, north of Manila.

 

The gory ritual resumed last year after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has turned Enaje into a village celebrity for his role as the “Christ” in the Lenten reenactment of the Way of the Cross.

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Ahead of the crucifixions, Enaje told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday night that he has considered ending his annual religious penitence due to his age, but said he could not turn down requests from villagers for him to pray for sick relatives and all other kinds of maladies.

 

The need for prayers has also deepened in an alarming period of wars and conflicts worldwide, he said.

 

“If these wars worsen and spread, more people, especially the young and old, would be affected. These are innocent people who have totally nothing to do with these wars,” Enaje said.

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During the annual crucifixions on a dusty hill in Enaje’s village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga and two other nearby communities, he and other religious devotees, wearing thorny crowns of twigs, carried heavy wooden crosses on their backs for more than a kilometer (more than half a mile) under a hot summer sun. Village actors dressed as Roman centurions hammered 4-inch (10-centimeter) stainless steel nails through their palms and feet, then set them aloft on wooden crosses for about 10 minutes as dark clouds rolled in and a large crowd prayed and snapped pictures.

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Church leaders in the Philippines, the largest Catholic nation in Asia, have frowned on the crucifixions and self-flagellations. Filipinos can show their faith and religious devotion, they say, without hurting themselves and by doing charity work instead, such as donating blood, but the tradition has lasted for decades.

 

https://apnews.com/article/philippines-good-friday-crucifixions-pampanga-province-c725e903d17a356d2a179ef0cda17a9c

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

That’s not gonna work 

[Fergasun]

Is it wrong for me to suggest Jesus was nailed to the cross, so that this guy doesn't have to be?  Is there a meme/gif for "over their head"?  

[Cooked Crack]

26 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

That’s not gonna work 

Crucification? He must think it works if he's been doing it for decades

[LadySkinsFan]

Another religious thing taken to extreme. 

[Renegade7]

6 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Another religious thing taken to extreme. 

 

That even the religious folks are asking them to stop doing.

 

Total disconnect.

[Jabbyrwock]

The guy sounds totally holier than thou.

[China]

35th time?  I don't think they're doing it properly.

 

 

[DCSaints_fan]

8 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

That’s not gonna work 

Apparently it has, 35 times.  

 

Crucifixion was actually meant to be a lengthy, grueling punishment.  There are reports of people surviving days.  Which leads to debates about the plausibility of crucifixion account (but I don't want to go down that road)

 

[Corcaigh]

Reminds me of the scene from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs where they are standing on the hanging scaffold with the ropes around their neck. One guy is sobbing, and another turns to him and says “First time?”

 

 

Edited March 30 by Corcaigh

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Cue up 36 and 37…