The Via Crucis passion play and crucifixions are staged annually in San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Despite its popularity among tourists both local and foreign alike, the local government has been making an effort to preserve as much as the tradition as possible, and keep out to much commercialism from the passion play which is written in the vernacular Kapampangan language. At least 30 percent of the crowd at San Pedro Cutud were foreigners. And it could arguably be the event most visited by foreigners owing to the international media attention it gets every year.
I decided to stay away from San Pedro Cutud this year to conserve my energy to visit other Good Friday traditions. I was actually there earlier in the morning as the crowds started to stream in. But left to get back home before I got stuck there. There are two other crucifixion sites in San Fernando in Santa Lucia and San Juan.
You can read my previous entries for more details on San Pedro Cutud and its Via Crucis passion play: Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga (2007), Crucifixion rites held in San Pedro Cutud every Good Friday (2008) and Another Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga (2009).
Read in your previous article about Cutud foreign media pushing up the hill. But this time (and I don't think it's an exception)I found some Filipino photographers much more aggressive. A Foreigner would cover this event probably only once, while locals, like yourself, come there every year. Still you stubbornly guard the best positions to get the shots. Big lapse of the the organizers ass well to provide a reasonable conditions for work. They let all the general public near the cross at the last batch of crucifixion. Staring locals or those with mobile phone cameras and children clogged the space around the crosses. This much about the need for a media pass. Shame. It was hell and I surely suffered more in that heat than those who were nailed to the cross to get a few decent shots.
ReplyDeleteI'll let the organizers know about it. I'm sorry to hear about what happened. IMHO, I hope equal media attention is given to the non-bloody Holy Week rituals of Pampanga which are also worth the story. Media attention for this event and the other penitents has created chaos at the hill.
ReplyDeleteHi,
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Hi Ivan. I am going to Cutud this Holy Week and am checking for the hotels near the area. It says Cutud is in San Fernando but when I checked google maps it is nearer Angeles. Is it really near Angeles?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
I wonder where that info came from. Cutud is nowhere near Angeles. It's close to downtown San Fernando
ReplyDeleteTake a bus to San Fernando. Wherever you get off, look for a jeep that will take you to the Pampanga Provincial Capitol. From the Capitol, you can walk or hire a three-wheeler to the crucifixion site since it's about a kilometer or two away
ReplyDelete