Philippine Holy Week rituals: EJK infects performance

Ezra Acayan photographs and reports on Good Friday in Navotas, land of many extra-judicial killings. Here, you can see how Hollywood and the aesthetics of EJK’s have inflected the performances of devotion into extreme rituals of bloody abjection.

“No. This is not your favourite horror slasher film. This is Good Friday Lenten rites in Bangkulasi, Navotas. Yes I have been to Cutud and Kapitangan, but here in Bangkulasi is the bloodiest yet. It is supposed to be some spiritual affair, but it is as solemn as a scene taken from the movie The Purge. Faithful Catholics come in their favourite masks. Among those present: Ghostface, The Phantom, and—my favourite—ninja Iron Man. The carnage starts before midnight, and by dawn the devotees have shed enough blood to raise sea levels by a few more meters. Once they have repented, they go for a swim in the sewage trap of Manila bay to be baptised in feces and each other’s blood. Fake news? Then come to Navotas next year and see for yourself— and don’t forget to bring your f*cking goggles.””No. This is not your favourite horror slasher film. This is Good Friday Lenten rites in Bangkulasi, Navotas. Yes I have been to Cutud and Kapitangan, but here in Bangkulasi is the bloodiest yet. It is supposed to be some spiritual

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