Sinners

PHILIPPINES 2019 © Massimo Rumi

San Pedro Cutud, a small village in the Philippines, is famous for the annual re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death . Strip down to their waists, hundreds of penitents, either carry crosses made from wood or choose to flagellate their wounded, bloodstained backs with strips of ropes tied with broken glasses or sharp objects. At the end of the agonising walk some of them will go to the length of having their hands and feet nailed to the cross. They do so in the serious belief that their participation is a way of atoning for their sins and open heaven’s door for them.Devotee have their head covered with a piece of cloth and to strengthen themselves would drink several bottles of beer but not to the extent of getting drunk. The lenten practice of the re-enactment of the Way of the Cross has been observed in the province since 1950s.