Easter in the Philippines

I am sure you have heard or seen that Filipinos have taken a literal interpretation of Easter celebrations by crucifying themselves to honour Jesus Christ.

The big news this year was that even a British TV star was due to re-enact the death of Jesus. Though the British man was reported to be praying one minute and then backed out of the being crucified at the last minute. This British man named Dominik Diamond brought a lot of if not thousands of spectators hoping to see the TV presenter to cry out as nails the size of pencils were driven into his hands and feet.

The nine men who went before him grimaced as they were nailed and hoisted up in the steaming Philippine heat.

The gruesome annual ritual in the small village of Cutud, about 50 miles north of the capital Manila, attracts tourists from around the world, some of whom are splattered with blood from lines of men flagellating themselves.

It's reported that the country's dominant Catholic Church disapproves of the crucifixions and whippings as a misrepresentation of the faith.

But participants say they endure the pain to atone for their sins or to bring blessings on their families.

Dionigio Dancil, a 30-year-old driver said: "I'm doing this for penance. I'm not worried about the pain because I have faith. I will go back to work tomorrow with bandages on my wounds."

Mr Dancil, and the other penitents were nailed to crosses for about five minutes before being taken away on stretchers.

Started in Cutud in 1962 and copied in other parts of the country, the crucifixion ritual has become a big tourist draw. Seven hung on crosses. Dozens bleed from whips. Processions, pain, with joy and sorrow! This is Easter in the Philippines.

While people in the West are celebrating joyous and orderly Easter Services the situation in the Philippines and other ritualistic countries is different. Though, I am sure that's probably all you heard about this Easter in the Philippines is about the few that do these being crucified.

Though, our personal experience in Davao City, Philippines was none of that. What we experienced was literally the whole place shuts down primarily on Thursday and Good Friday. I and mean it's like ghost town nothing is open. And I heard of many fasting and not eating any meat or giving up other items while so people prepare native delicacies.

But, what we thought was the sort of strange part of it is all is that Come the day after Good friday that Saturday literally everything is back to normal. It's like Easter is already over, and everything opens up! Then on Sunday it's like a party time, and culturally here most go to the beach and start eating there meats and more stuff! It's different that's for sure, and that's just some of our personal experience I am sure there is some things we have missed but that's what we heard, and understand with people that we talked with.

Philippine Challenge at Outland Adventure

On Monday, March 27, the missionaries from Philippine Challenge went to Outland Adventure. This was the first time for Tara to participate in the "adventures" and Eric had done a few before. We started out with low elements which are the Trust Fall and the wall. The trust fall is a platform 5 feet in the air and you stand and fall into the groups arms. The wall is a 12 ft. wall that you have to get your whole team over without a ladder, step stool, or anything like that. Just imagination and your team. Then we started the high elements which include: vertical playpen, catwalk, trapeze jump, pamper pole, and the zipwire. Vertical playpen is a series of logs and tires that you and your partner must climb to the top and touch a cowbell and then come down. The catwalk is a log 60 ft. in the air that you have to walk across and then back to the middle and then come down. The trapeze jump is a platform 35 ft. up that you jump from and try to touch a ball that is about 8 to 10 ft. away from the platform. The pamper pole is a 60 ft. pole that you have to climb to the top of and stand on and state a goal, then jump. The zipwire is 300 ft. across a lake. Eric and Tara were partners on the vertical playpen and were able to make to the top after a lot of struggle and bruises. Tara did all of the high elements except for the pamper pole. Eric did all of them and had a scary little mishap on the zipwire. The staff uses a rope to stop you at the end. Well...when Eric went the rope broke when trying to stop him. Thankfully he was able to stop. We had a lot of fun but more importantly worked as a team.

Beauty from Ashes Orphanage

On Saturday, March 26, we went to the Beauty from Ashes orphanage with our language teacher. The children there have all been abandoned by their parents. The children do not go to school during the week so Bebe (our language teacher) does all of their schooling on Saturday. We were able to help the children with reading, math, and Eric was able to give them a little information about the states. After school was done Eric played a game with the ones that are physically able to play games. The game was very similar to Duck Duck Goose. The children loved it. Then of course they all wanted to play basketball with Eric. The rim was like most rims in the Philippines very short. Tara watched with Bebe, the children who were unable to play, and the only girl there. When we left all the children were asking us when we would come back. Bebe informed us that they talked about the rest of the day. We had a lot of fun playing with them.

Calinan

On Saturday, March 26th, Eric had a game with the Ventures for Victory team in Calinan, a town about an hour north of Davao. There were about 750 people watching the game that all heard the gospel. The other team was brought in from Davao, so it was stiff competition. The game did not turn out too well for the VV team. They lost, but most of the players were able to dunk on the rims which is a new adventure for the Filipinos.