Filipinos Are Crazy

I can say that because my parents are Filipino. And because they are crazy - Filipinos that is... and the parents too.

With macabre scenes of self-flagellation and live crucifixion, a normally quiet Philippines village Friday witnessed a bloody spectacle as it staged its own ``Passion of the Christ''.

The annual Good Friday ritual at Cutud, 70 kilometres (43 miles) 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.

This year, the ritual was played out as it has been for decades with young men whipping their bloodied backs as 13 others were crucified on a hill under early afternoon heat.
On the hill where those preparing to be crucified were gathered, Romelito Vergara, 38, a street vendor from the nearby province of Pampanga, said he was hoping to repeat an earlier ceremony which cured him of polio.

``By the time I was 20 I could not walk,``he said. ``I prayed to God to help me walk again. I was crucified for the first time when I was 27 and now I am walking again.''

Nearby, carpenter Arnel Sangalong, 41, who was being crucified for the ninth time, stretched his arms out along a wooden cross, his face grimacing as the five-inch stainless steel nails were driven into his hands.

As the cross was fitted into place, nails were driven in to his feet.

Each crucifixion lasts an agonising handful of minutes, but for those like Sangalong and Vergara it is worth it to fulfill their pledge to God.

At least Filipinos don't crucify the Easter Bunny.