Good Friday at San Fernando

Today is the big day of my trip. It is the day of the gory Good Friday crucifixions.

At the Cathedral (Whippings and Cross Bearers)

Szymon (whom I met yesterday with his wife-to-be Magdalena) knocked on my door at 0800. He had read that we needed to go really early as Cutud was near Angeles city and it was quite a long ride.

I explained that there was more than one Cutud and the one we need to go to is across the motorway and would involve s short jeepney ride and perhaps a tricycle as well. I showed him all my references but still wanted to go early toensure we missed nothing. Fair enough as we have all come a long way especially for this; I had originally planned to go around 1000.

We hopped into a jeepney (PHP8) marked Palengke and got off in San Fernando when we saw people bearing crosses and whipping themselves till their backs were raw. We followed them on foot for a while. It was quite a grim sight at first but I soon got over it.

The natural assumption would be that they are proceeding to the crucifixion site. But I checked with some passers by who said they were going home. And the site was actually in the opposite direction!

We headed that way which was where the San Fernando Metropolitan Cathedral was located. In front were more people whipping themselves, some lying face down getting beaten by others, and some others bearing crosses. There was a constant stream of others coming in as they left.

Magdalena told me that Szymon was obsessive with photography and would do”anything” to get the best pictures. He work tirelessly taking “more of the same” pictures in the oppressive heat whereas I retreated to the Cathedral after a while and took refuge in its relative cool.

In the foyer of the Cathedral was a glass case which would take the body of Christ for a procession in the evening. Once inside, in the small chapel to the left, was a statue of lying Christ. People wee given a small ball of cotton to wipe his feet so that they could kiss it. I told Szymon about this the information of the night procession; I think his focus meant that he could easily miss good information.

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Crucifixions at Santa Lucia

At around 1130 we decided it was time to walk to the San Pedro Cutud crucifixion site. We kept asking for directions along the way. A lady along the way insisted on taking us to Santa Lucia instead. My research indicated that there are three crucifixions in the whole area and recalled that Santa Lucia was before San Pedro Cutud. We agreed amongst ourselves that we would go to Santa Lucia after checking that we had enough time to get from Lucia to Pedro.

We braved the stinking heat and walked about 20 minutes. We knew we were close when the foot, tricycle and motor traffic was heavy. In the large open shed, they re-enacted the final moments of Christ’s life (we have missed the procession re-enacting the Stations of the Cross).

The Jesus character was taken to the artificial mini-hill where he was crucified with two others. I was only able to observe from a distance couldn’t see theh actual nailing of all three people. But once the deed was done, the nails were clearly there.

Szymon had managed to rush in and get into the press area where he got some good photos. Hopefully I’ll get to see some of them.

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Crucifixions at San Pedro Cutud

As I was conscious of the time to get to San Pedro Cutud, I went to our agreed meeting point soon after the nailing was complete (and a few photos taken). Unfortunately the other two didn’t turn up for quite a while.  Once they turned up, we faced a long walk in the now midday heat. The crowd grew thicker with people , motorbikes, tricycles and cars but at no time did it get disorderly. Then we would come to a complete standstill.

It became apparent why when we discovered that we had caught up with the Stations of the Cross procession re-enacting the whole story. Szymon saw some foreigner going up to Jesus, bearing and dragging his cross and having a selfie with him. The sheer disrespect was beyond me.

The cordoned off area once we got to the crucifixion site was quite large. Szymon, again, got into the elevated platform for the press. I was far enough to still get OK shots but was able to join him once the nailing was done and a few people had left.

Here, only the Jesus character had real nails. He may also have had a nail in his foot but I’m not sure. The two thiefs escaped lightly with only being tied up on the cross.  I had read that there’s no big interest amongst locals to get nailed; perhaps that’s why the two thiefs were tied up.  That must put a lot of pressure for the Jesus character to keep going year-after-year and not “retire” from the role.

Szymon got the idea that here, the crucifixions go on for about 2h as there are lots of people wanting to play the Jesus role but I think there had been a misunderstanding.

I had finished the last of my three bottles of water and bought two more. We walked all the way back to the Cathedral area. It was still bloody hot and I would have taken transport but it was quite pointless in view of the congestion … not that there were any empty tricycles around.

As the malls near the hotel were close today, we decided it would be wise to eat in San Fernando rather than the hotel (where they guarantee you get your meal in 10 minutes or it is free … can’t be that good!). There was a choice of Jollibee, McDo or Chowking all in one row and we opted for the Chinese. All our meals were OK and the two Poles decided to add on a Halo-Halo each after seeing mine 🙂 We took a jeepney back to the hotel where I had time for a two hour rest.