Shocking images show a man being pinned to a cross in an ultra-realistic display – as he volunteered to be crucified for the 36th time. Ruben Enaje, 64, has decided to carry out his annual act again in San Pedro Cutud, Pampanga, for Good Friday.
He has endured the crucifixion for over three decades, and went ahead with this year despite previously saying he was getting too old. However, he finds it difficult to turn down the requests from villagers who have family suffering from ill health. This year, he nailed himself to the cross, along with 10 other men in the sweltering heat.
Last year, was extra important for Ruben as he highlighted the war against Ukraine. He said at the time: “If these wars worsen and spread, more people, especially the young and old, would be affected. These are innocent people who have totally nothing to do with these wars.” He added: “This is why I always pray for peace in the world.”
Ruben earlier shared that he began the crucifixion after he miraculously dodged death when he fell at a construction site when he was 25. He said it was important for him to make a “sacrifice” to thank God for his “second life”.
In the 1980s, Enaje survived nearly unscathed when he accidentally fell from a three-story building, prompting him to undergo the crucifixion as thanksgiving for what he considered a miracle. He extended the ritual after loved ones recovered from serious illnesses, one after another, and he landed more carpentry and sign-painting job contracts.
During the annual crucifixions on a dusty hill in Enaje’s village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga and two other nearby communities, he and other religious devotees, wearing thorny crowns of twigs, carry heavy wooden crosses on their backs for more than a kilometre (more than half a mile) often in the scorching summer heat.
Village actors dressed as Roman centurions later hammer 4-inch (10-centimetre) stainless steel nails through their palms and feet, then set them aloft on wooden crosses under the sun for about 10 minutes as a large crowd prays and snaps pictures.
The carpenter told Review of Religions: “It all started in 1985, when I fell from the third floor of a building and miraculously escaped death.
“At that moment, I made a vow to God that I will make a sacrifice to pay for my second life; I wanted to do that by re-enacting the act of the crucifixion as thanksgiving. One year after my accident, I joined the Senakulo (re-enactment of crucifixion), where I carried the cross to the Burol (Hill of Crucifixion).”
The carpenter added: “From what I have heard from my grandfather, the re-enactment rituals have been carried out in the Philippines since 1945 or the 1950s (basically after the Japanese left after WWII).”
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