for over 50 years, it has been a common sight in the streets of Pampanga to find a man carrying a heavy wooden cross, walking barefoot under the scorching heat of the sun, only to be nailed on it later. Nor it is surprising to find a half-naked man flogging his own bloodied back with a bamboo-laced whip. After all, these practices have become a staple scene in the province of Pampanga, a province in the predominantly Catholic country of the Philippines, every Good Friday. These practices of apparent self-mutilation only serve one purpose, that is, to redeem the flagellants from their worldly sins. However, as the years pass, the tradition has drawn countless local and foreign tourists, making the practice seem less holy and turning the tradition into a mere spectacle of parading masochists.
