Upon our return, we managed to catch up with the group we
met earlier who played the station of the cross. That time, the group was only a couple of
meters away from the chapel. Since it
was the only attraction that particular time, we simply content ourselves
taking pictures of the ongoing observation of the group. As I watched the small group do their thing,
I fondly recall my experience of station of the cross in Marinduque where the
whole town act as its stage and with a huge number of participants plus the
portrayal was truly convincing. This
group in Balut, Tondo was somewhat a slow-paced one with a not so good staging
of the scenes plus the face of the main character was somewhat detached to his
role. Of course, every time he threw
himself to the ground made his face reflect the reaction of the one who is
forcefully pushed to the ground. And the
hitting of the stalk of banana leaf was real.
Even if the stalk is somewhat soft, still, hitting someone with it could
inflict some pain in the process.
After the completion of the station of the cross, there were
still plenty of spectators on the street and on the side street. I again asked some barangay officials for
other activities that day. They were
kind enough to tell us that there would be a staging of the crucifixion in a
little while and Simeon de Jesus street would be the entry point. Since we were already there, we went back to
that place and patiently waited for another event. Actually, we were not the only ones who were
anticipating for that final event.
Several locals where already lining the sidewalk in order to have a good
view of the final act. And after some
time, much to our surprise, a group of locals were parading and doing their act
of penance. Yes! At long last, we will not go home empty
handed after all.
With all the excitement and surprises, we readily followed
the group until they reached the main road.
By the side of the main road, they stopped. I had no idea at all what they would do
next. I watched them closely and up
close and personal, I witnessed a painful and shivering account. Each and every member of the group had their
backs cut by several blades at the same time in order for the blood to freely
flow and make it appear that their backs were actually bleeding.
With just a foot away and with my camera zooming in on the
ongoing ordeal of each participant, I could hear someone moaning in pain while
others shiver the moment the blades cut through the skin on their back. Even if the cuts were shallow, still, the
idea of slicing your back and with the fresh blood slowly appearing on your
back is no joke. And in order to add
more effect to the staging of their penance, some amount of water were poured
on their backs to make their backs appear as bloody as possible. The moment all of them had their backs cut
again and with their backs turning red in abundance because of the mixture of fresh
blood and water, they resumed their order in the parade and started smashing
their backs with the end of the rope having wood sticks most probably half a foot long.
The idea is to keep the wounds open and let the blood freely flow.
With all the excitement I felt witnessing all
the accounts right before my very eyes, I innocently closely followed the group
while they were doing their thing. After
a couple of steps, I felt something on my cheek. When I checked myself, some portion of the
wet stuff coming from the backs of the persons doing the penance actually
landed on my face. I got alarmed. My goodness! I had blood on my face, on my
shirt, and on my camera. What the hell I
was thinking when I closely followed this group? Haha. It did not occur to me that I will have a
share of their red liquid. But what the
heck! Since I was having a great time and this was the very thing I came here
in the first place, I hurriedly wiped the blood on my face, cleaned the lense
of my camera and ran after the group.
This time, I tried to maintain a good distance from the group but I no
longer care if I will be hit by their fluid again. And that moment was awesome!
After reaching the chapel, we went back to that part of the
street again waiting for the final act to happen. We’d been told that there would be another
set of people who will be doing their act of penance alongside with the actors
who will be nailed to the cross. We
patiently waited until we were the only ones left on that part of the
street. Some locals became impatient and
one by one, they went home. It was
already past 11 in the morning and there was no word about when that thing will
happen. For sure it will happen but no
one can confirm about the exact time.
Since we were quite happy about our shots, we decided to leave the
place. Anyway, we already had what we
came here for. We rode a jeepney bound
to Divisoria.
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