Devotees nailed on cross in bloody ritual

[dArKeR]

San Pedro Cutud - In a depiction of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, Filipino devotees were nailed to wooden crosses on Good Friday, with some saying they got nervous about doing it after watching bloody scenes of the film The Passion Of The Christ.

The Lenten ritual, opposed by religious leaders in the Philippines - South-east Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation - attracts droves of foreign and local tourists each year to the farming town of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province, about 70km north of the capital, Manila.

The thick crowd that sweated it out under a blistering sun on Friday included the French and Swiss ambassadors.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1081500121752B214&set_id=1

And then they went into church and symbolically ate a human and drank his blood.

[PartyPooper]

1. I just don't get it. Can someone please explain this to me?

O8)

[Rex]

3. At least it wasn't the Easter bunny.

They crucified him the other day. :crazy: :crazy:

[DrWeird]

2. Is that a filipino joke?

Here in the states people cut themselves up for vanity. They pay a lot of money for it too.

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. There's some religious group in New Mexico

that have devotees who are nailed to the cross. Some eschew the nails and opt for just being tied to a cross. The name of this group escapes me at the moment...anyone know?

[fishwax]

10. Los Hermanos Penitentes

I believe is the name of the group you're thinking of, in New Mexico and Colorado. They engage in self-flagellation to atone for their sins, and also sometimes bind themselves to or carry wooden crosses. (Myself, I prefer to just live with the occasional pangs of Catholic guilt ... )

[countmyvote4real]

12. Could it be Log Cabin Republicans.

joke

[dArKeR]

4. Thirteen men nailed to crosses in the Philippines - MG

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=33981

[mouse7]

5. You have to not pay attention to religious holidays in Philippines

There's some real serious religious devotion in the Philippines. A little too serious for my tastes, but different strokes for different folks.

[dolo amber]

7. Well then...

In keeping with the lore of my religion, I'll be by to kill all your firstborn sons later this evening...:crazy:

[nodehopper]

8. so how long do they stay up there?

[Voltaire99]

9. Nearer my God to th--eeeeeyaaaaaa!

The extremists, I understand.

But pray tell, what were the French and Swiss ambassadors doing there? Is faith-based mutilation artisto entertainment now?

[Pale_Rider]

11. Nothing more than shamanic tradition ...

... to induce a trance-state and seeking of salvation through the practice of self-mutilation. Physiologically, not much different that ghost-dancing or Thaipusam.


http://glennh.tripod.com/wa_sing_tpsm.htm

[Merlin]

13. Jesus Christ!

The historic Jesus, the real person, the human being, who stood for the very things we Democrats stand for--social reform, good works, peace, love, helping the weak, poor, hungry, aged, ill--would be horrified, not only by these displays of absurdity, but by all Christianity's obsession with his death. It is not his death which is important. It is what he taught about how to live that matters. All else is a tawdry diversion.