SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – A group of actors prepare for the cenaculo, or religious play, highlighting the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. They walk towards the hilltop after the last San Pedro Cutud flagellant is done.

The cenaculo is called Via Crucis, and it starts at high noon. It opens with a man portraying Pontius Pilate riding a pony along with others dressed as Roman soldiers. They push and shove the hapless Jesus Christ up the hill – an appropriation of the biblical story that ends with the crucifixion.

With tourists and local onlookers alike flocking to the foot of the hill while armed with their smartphones, cameras, and drones, with the anachronistic telco tents and streamers dotting the venue, Via Crucis at Cutud is where the parochial meets the urbane. It is also where excruciating pain is seen as a most accurate re-enactment of the Son of God’s love and sacrifice for mankind, as iron nails are driven straight into Kristo’s palms under the scorching Friday sun. – Rappler.com