Victor showed no fear, smoking a cigarette, waiting in line for his turn on the cross. But he cried out and openly wept as the 13cm stainless-steel nails — pre-soaked in alcohol to disinfect them — were driven through his palms with an ordinary carpenter’s hammer.
More than a dozen Filipinos were nailed to crosses and scores more whipped their backs into a bloody pulp on Friday in a gory ritual to mark the death of Jesus Christ. The voluntary crucifixions were the most extreme displays of religious devotion in this mainly Catholic country, where millions are praying and fasting ahead of the Easter weekend.
With macabre scenes of self-flagellation and live crucifixion, a normally quiet Philippines village on Friday witnessed a bloody spectacle as it staged its own Passion of the Christ. The annual Good Friday ritual at Cutud, 70km north of Manila, attracts thousands of tourists and Filipinos for what is seen as the ultimate atonement for Easter — despite criticism from the Catholic Church.