1.
SPAIN: SV flagellants CU OF feet and back of flagellant, Back being treated and continues to beat himself (THREE SHOTS)
0.32

2.
TV CU of flagellant walking to the cross in procession (THREE SHOTS)
0.50

3.
Philippines: MS OF Mario Balagtas being fixed to cross, followed by CU of his hand being nailed to the wood (TWO SHOTS)
0.56

4.
SV Bagtas, cross put into position
1.17

5.
CU of nailed hands, PULL-OUT TO SV Bagtas on cross CU face CU PAN FROM one hand across body to other hand (THREE SHOTS)
1.42

6.
GV of cross and ZOOM INTO CU of hands and face
1.52

7.
GV cross and soldiers in roman costume
1.57



Initials KM/



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Rituals were carried out in northern Spain and in the Philippines over the Easter holiday, in memory of Jesus Christ's crucifixion 2,000 years ago. Members of a Brotherhood in Northern Spain staged a flagellation procession and in the Philippines a villager was nailed to a cross in a rice field.

SYNOPSIS: In the Spanish village of San Vicente De La Sonsierra, members of the Picaos Brotherhood masked themselves for a Good Friday (13 April) procession through the village streets. Walking barefoot, the penitents beat themselves with whipcord until their backs were red and bruised. When the backs of the penitents were suitably bruised an assistant broke the skin with sharp glass. The penitents continued to whip their bleeding backs during the procession.

The Picaos Brotherhood is a self disciplining society which has maintained the tradition of flagellation at Easter since the 16th Century.

In the Philippines a villager has been reenacting the crucifixion for several years.

Mario Bagtas, from Pampanga is nailed to the cross on Good Friday each year in the belief that his wife will be cured of cancer. This is the fourth Easter that Bagtas has reenacted the crucifixion and tourists and villagers flock to see the ritual.

After his first ordeal on the cross, a cancer tumour on his wife's breast disappeared and Bagtas vowed that he would repeat the ceremony for 10 years to keep his wife free of cancer. After the cross was in position Bagtas was left to hang for four minutes.

Other villagers formed a flagellation procession and others dressed in the costumes of Roman soldiers as part of the re-enactment of Christ's trek to Calvary, 2,000 year ago.