Backpacking Philippines and Asia: Penitencia: Penance through Flagellation in Holy Week

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Penitencia: Penance through Flagellation in Holy Week

One of those rare times when I spent the Holy Week in my hometown instead of running around somewhere in another place, I went home on Holy Thursday due to having stayed till dawn in the office monitoring an activity.

I initially wanted to go to Kalayaan town to take pictures of those people whipping themselves in public but instead I found them near the church, saving me the hassle of travelling to the next town.

warning: Do not open if you can't stand the sight of blood!

Talk about bloody mess with blood, sweat and dust; a "wholesome" sight for sado-masochistic delight!

Note: the Catholic Church does not teach penance through flagellation, crucifixion or any form of corporal punishment to self to atone for one's sins.

Labels: Calabarzon, Holy Week, Laguna, Paete

posted by backpacking philippines @ 8:53 PM,

16 Comments:

At Apr 10, 2007, 7:55:00 PM, kyels said...: Wow, this is something new to me.

Pretty gory, isn't it?
At Apr 11, 2007, 9:57:00 AM, PhilippinesPhil said...: Watching these guys do this every Good Friday makes me wonder about the origins of the practice. Muslims flagellate too and this country was very Islamic until the Spanish conversion. One of my friends has lived in every country in Latin and S America. I'll ask if he saw any flagellation in those places. If so, perhaps it was a Spanish invention.
At Apr 11, 2007, 11:44:00 AM, melai said...: uso pa pala yan hanggang ngayon..

I used to see some of my neighbors with wounded back because of that practice every Holy Week, but after a while....they all go back to their OLD VICES.
At Apr 11, 2007, 4:31:00 PM, jhenny said...: gad! pagkatapos ba nyan dinadala sila sa ospital?? nakakaloka naman yan..

i've seen that before eh, some people talaga are doing that kind of penance pero ngayon ko lang na-realized na parang may mali... i don't know why..
At Apr 11, 2007, 7:13:00 PM, watson said...: Natatawa ako inspite of myself.

Takot kasi ako sa sight of blood. May warning na nga sa intro ng post mo, pumunta pa rin ako. Ang kulit ano? Ayun nagimbal ako. hehehe. Nakakapanghina....
At Apr 12, 2007, 6:49:00 AM, Abaniko said...: I still go for the classic one: stoning to death. Hah! ;)
At Apr 12, 2007, 11:41:00 AM, cruise said...: grabe ang sakit nyan, pero sa tingin mo totoong nasusugatan sila?
At Apr 12, 2007, 11:53:00 AM, tutubi said...: kyels, gory indeed!

phil, have to check it out. this seems to be an age-old tradition brought here in RP

melai, yup. BSDU :)

jhenny, wounds even if small still hurt. no hospital trip for them

watson, warned you before hehe

abaniko, paypayan mo na lang pero mas mahapdi yata

cruise, i asked one of them and complained those wounds really hurt as in mahapdi daw...

sometimes you'll even see them rolling on the road and just imagine salty sweat, blood and sand/soil combined :(
At Apr 12, 2007, 3:45:00 PM, Sidney said...: You didn't miss anything in Kalayaan. Most flagellants were wearing "modern" looking masks instead of the traditional ones.
At Apr 12, 2007, 5:09:00 PM, Jawaharlal Al-Zawahiri said...: yuck, dis is so kadire!
At Apr 12, 2007, 8:43:00 PM, U.T.O.Y said...: Wish I could bear hitting mi back with those improvised slammers they're using. Alam ko nilalaslas pa nila ung likod nila to have a much gorier effect + of course double the penitence.
At Apr 12, 2007, 10:22:00 PM, Ferdz said...: Siguro pag tinignan mo yung mga ginagamit nilang whips me mga balat balat at dugo pa. Eeew... onga nga kadiri
At Apr 13, 2007, 1:13:00 AM, Toe said...: That is totally gory! I've never seen flagellants wearing shirts before. But their whipping is so hard, their shirts are all torn up. Oo nga... this is not taught by the church. Our religiosity could be very folkloric and animistic sometimes.
At Apr 13, 2007, 3:27:00 AM, Alternati said...: I see a lot of flagellants whenever I go down to the lowlands during Holy Week. It works for some people, but not me! I can't stand the sight of blood. Especially those that take it to the next level and "crucify" themselves.

It's a mild passive form of extremism.

P.S. I'll link you up too dear. :)
At Apr 13, 2007, 10:01:00 AM, BW said...: The Shiite Muslims also have their own form of flagellation but in a rather militant fashion. It's done to commemorate the life of their historical leader Immam Hussain. It can be scary sight when sword wielding men form a procession and flagellate themselves like they want to be martyred in a battle :(
At Apr 13, 2007, 11:54:00 AM, Senor Enrique said...: Had witnessed these since as a kid in Subic, but to this day still cringe when I hear the sound and the see the blood.

The ones in Subic wore no tops (shirts), though.