Brutal Faith
A visual and textual discourse on the intersection of faith and extreme brutality as exemplified by self-flagellants during the Lenten rites on Good Friday in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines.
A visual and textual discourse on the intersection of faith and extreme brutality as exemplified by self-flagellants during the Lenten rites on Good Friday in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
“It’s never quite the<br />
same,” a toothless<br />
elderly laments as<br />
the jeepney she is<br />
in whirs past a long<br />
row of youngsters<br />
each clutching a<br />
wooden cross on their<br />
backs. A middle-aged<br />
woman aboard the<br />
same jeepney nods<br />
in agreement before<br />
she launches her own<br />
litany of nostalgic<br />
tales of Lent from<br />
decades past, when<br />
penitence by men<br />
weren’t interrupted<br />
by penitents’ sporadic<br />
attempts at video<br />
recording their acts via<br />
cellphones, when men<br />
flogged their bodies<br />
not to draw attention<br />
to themselves but<br />
as genuine contrition<br />
for their misgivings<br />
as individuals and as<br />
Catholics, those days<br />
when the observance<br />
of Semana Santa<br />
was done with pious<br />
reserve and none of<br />
today’s modern trappings. But it’s all memories<br />
now, the ladies aboard the jeepney say, as they<br />
look out the window of the moving vehicle to<br />
the sight of youngsters goofing around in their<br />
scarlet robes and aviator shades and the influx<br />
of camera-wielding tourists gawking at it all. †
Change language