Panata, Penitensiya And Swearing On The Cross

During the Lenten season, the passion of Christ is depicted by some Filipinos in a sadistic fashion but not for no reason. Most do this for the atonement of their sins or penitence (penitensiya in Filipino), as if Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t sufficient. Some have sworn – a sort of sacred pledge – to do this as an act of thanksgiving or in gratitude for a miracle that happened once upon a time in their lives. In the Filipino vernacular, this type of pledge is called a panata. Others start off in petition for something really big such as the healing of an ill loved one and when their prayers are answered, they end off passing the pledge to the their next generations, making it a family tradition. Getting crucified is an extreme example of a panata.

With red being the motif, the entire event is local color at its finest. Everyone is dressed to the occasion from the person playing Jesus (suitably called Kristo) to the Roman soldiers, and though their number doesn’t quite reach a hundred, a centurion is among them. They’re not just dressed as if in a costume party though, they take their roles quite seriously. It starts off with the soldiers beating the penitents’ backs with a piece of wood beaded by broken glass, until blood is drawn. The Kristo then carries the cross along the streets and heads towards Calvary (aptly coined, the Filipino term for heavy burden is kalbaryo). The flagellants, with either crowns of thorns on their heads or red hoods over them, join the procession, whipping their backs with steel chains, or bamboos, or some other improvised torture devices designed to inflict pain, tear flesh and create permanent scars. It is not uncommon for blood to get splattered all over and if the scourger is not the flagellant himself, even he is not spared from the gruesome sprays of red.

The climax and naturally the most shocking part is the nailing of the believer to the wooden cross. Several pieces of rope or strips of clothing are used to tie the Kristo by the wrists, arms and legs and then the five or six-inch nails, previously sterilized by soaking in boiling water or alcohol, are driven by hammer through the hands and feet.

It’s not only men who are brave, faithful, zealous or crazy enough to do this. There are a handful of women who have also made the strange ritual their own. One female claims she has been getting crucified annually for over fifteen years. Whatever their gender, the Kristos are wise enough to opt to stay on the cross for a few minutes or hours instead of days.

The Catholic Church does not encourage this activity although self-inflicted pain as a form of purging one’s sin is historically present in the faith. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the government because the annual act has become a tourist attraction. They only give reminders on the dangers of using unsterilized nails or flagellants and persuade the penitents to go for tetanus shots before taking part in the yearly tradition.

This Good Friday 2008, thousands of local and foreign tourists flocked to Pampanga to witness the event. At some point, the crowd got a little too excited, a little too rowdy, and pushed their way nearer towards the erected crucifixes.

One of those crucified, a woman, annoyed and probably worried, shouted to the crowd, “P__ I____ niyo! Wag kayong magtulakan.” (Literally translated: “Your mothers are whores! Don’t push one another.” Perhaps this one’s a more appropriate translation: “You sons of bitches! Stop pushing!”)

One of the photographers present, unable to suppress his anger shouted back, “P___ I____ mo rin!” (“Your mother’s a whore too!”).

In this truly colorful event, swearing on the cross takes a whole new meaning.