Filipino devotees self-flagellate for Easter, defying ban on gatherings
- 4 years ago
Barefoot and with their backs bloodied by repeated flogging, Catholic devotees in the Philippines defied a ban on gatherings on Good Friday to perform a ritual of self-flagellation as a means of atonement during Holy Week.
Participants were few compared to recent years, after authorities reimposed tight restrictions in response to a jump in coronavirus infections, worsened by the spread of more transmissible variants.
But near one church in Manila’s Tondo area, about 10 devotees, wearing facemasks and with the cloth cut away from the backs, struck their backs with bamboo whips swung rhythmically from left to right as they walked.
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