CUTUD LENTEN RITES
San Fernando, Pampanga
16-18 April
Prayer of a different meaning during the Lenten season, when villagers of San Pedro, Cutud, engage in the act of self-flagellation. This ancient ritual is executed in the morning of Good Friday during the Holy Week. Backs, arms, and legs are cut and then struck with burillo beats. The climax to this occasion happens at midday, when penitents are literally nailed to their waiting crosses.
The San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites is a Holy Week re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death complete with a passion play culminating with the actual nailing of at least three flagellants to a wooden cross atop the makeshift Calvary. Every year on Good Friday, a dozen or so penitents - mostly men but with the occasional woman - are taken to a rice field in the barrio of San Pedro Cutud, 3km from San Fernando,Pampanga and nailed to a cross using two-inch stainless steel nails that have been soaked in alcohol to disinfect them. The penitents are taken down when they feel cleansed of their sin. Other penitents flagellate themselves using bamboo sticks tied to a rope.
San Pedro Cutud is a town in Pampanga province in the Philippines, approximately 70 kilometers north of Manila. It is known for annual re-enactments of the crucifixion of Jesus. During Holy Week each year, thousands of penitents arrive in the area to watch and take part in a pageant commemorating the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, including the Good Friday flagellation and crucifixion rituals. A small number of participants choose to have their hands and feet temporarily nailed to makeshift crosses as a sign of faith and repentance; some undergo the ritual yearly.
