Sleepy town prepares for penitents' crucifixion

A small sleepy town in San Fernando, Pampanga, 80 km north of Manila, has been preparing for several days for a dramatic crucifixion of 14 penitents, including a woman, on Good Friday.

"We want to get the attention of tourists who are in search of spiritual transformation during the Lenten Season," said Zoilo Castro, village chairman in Cutud, a place known for holding for the past 20 years a reenactment of Christ's passion which occurred 2,000 years ago.

"This time, we want to make the reenactment of Christ's crucifixion more realistic," said Castro.

The organisers have succeeded in getting sponsors for the colourful costumes that will be worn by the penitents, the Roman centurions, and other participants of the event.

Historians were consulted on the colour scheme of the costumes to be used by the participants of the event.

This year's crucifixion in Cutud has one source of inspiration, the best-selling film by Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ, which opened in cinemas in Metro Manila last Monday.

This year's Kristo in Cutud, Ruben Enaje, a construction worker, will be crucified at high noon today. He will stay on the cross for only three minutes, but it will be raised for a few seconds. He has been doing this for the past nine years.

"It is a form of penitence, it makes me feel good," he said of his mission.

Another penitent will replace Enaje on the cross, and will remain there also for a few seconds unless he would want to be raised while on the cross.

The sequential crucifixion goes on until all the 14 penitents are nailed on the cross.

Before the crucifixion, participants will reenact Christ's trial, his arrest, his whipping, his way of the cross, and how he falls three times, how his image of suffering is transferred to a cloth that was used to wipe his face.

Barefooted flagellants wearing crowns of thorns and whose faces are covered with black cloth, will - inflict wounds on their bare backs, with the use of three-inch bamboo sticks tied on ropes.

Three women participants will play the role of Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Veronica. "In 2002, the village council decided not to allow foreigners who have been requesting to participate in the crucifixion," said Castro.

"We want an all-Filipino participation in this year's event," explained Castro.

There were at least four foreigners who have experienced being crucified on the cross during the Lenten Season in Pampanga. The last one was a Japanese national who used a video-tape of his crucifixion in a feature film he produced in 1995.

True to its plan to make this year's event a kind of block-buster, organisers have constructed stalls and souvenir shops in the town's plaza.

The Catholic Church does not officially sanction the practice in Cutud.