SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – This is San Pedro Cutud, a quiet barangay at the outskirts of the San Fernando city proper, the epicenter of the bloodiest pilgrimages in 21st century Philippines, the Golgotha of the tropics.

For years, the events chronicled in the first 4 books in the Bible’s New Testament have been reenacted in Cutud, drawing the pious and curious alike. Every Good Friday morning, a good number of men cover their faces in scarlet washcloth and thorny vines, pick up whips made of bamboo, and walk from any given point in San Fernando towards the Cutud hilltop while scourging themselves to a bloody pulp.

The bloody tradition is deemed by some as crude – barbaric, even. But for those who flagellate themselves for years on end, every sting inflicted is a pat on their back, serving as a validation of their faith. – Rappler.com