Strange Fruit

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

There's no lack of rituals in this nation of 120 million as Filipinos observe Holy Week.

I've seen quite a few of these yearly traditions as I usually go around Metro Manila and beyond during this time — when even newsrooms shut down.

There are the men — young and old — who choose to have themselves nailed to the cross, bloodied and in pain. In a province in northern Luzon, there's a sect of mostly religious women with long, flowing hair who climb up a hill before the crack of dawn to pray before giant crosses and life-sized rebultos of Jesus and the saints.

There are also dramatizations of the story of Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced Jesus' side with a spear as he hung on the cross.

In many parts of the country, village folks walk hundreds of meters in processions, some barefoot, others even on their knees.

From the golden hour all the way to nightfall, they walk tirelessly, carrying their rebultos to the town chapel or church.

This isn't surprising, especially in a country with more than 500 years of Christianity.

It was the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, in the service of Spain, who first attempted to Christianize us when he landed in Cebu in 1521. Along with Spanish missionaries in the 16th century came Roman Catholicism and its liturgical traditions.

It's the reason Christianity is all around us. When we travel to a province or a remote town, there is always a church or a kapilya.

Even the names of Filipinos take after famous saints —John, Anthony, Paul, Joseph, Mary and what-have-you.