We got scorned by self-flagellant gang leader on a Good Friday Oh que barbaridad!
This one is not quite bloody.
The day was fine yesterday because tit was sunny and I can't wait to get back home quick so I can get into my room and relax because it is just hot outside. The traffic was very fluid as most of the businesses are closed for the reason that it is a major holiday here. It is holy Friday of the Catholic but with a caveat here in my country because some devout Catholics with a different belief where if they hurt themselves, they will get forgiven for their sins.
I am talking about certain people which have a particular vow to self-flagellate and let themselves bleed in their backs and they are quite a scene when they pass by the road because most people can't help but to go outside to see them on the road barefoot with their upper shirt made to cover their faces and walking to the next Catholic church.
At the front of the next church, they will go down to spread themselves face fist on the hot concrete road forming a cross with their body with their arms spread and waiting for somebody to hit them if they are going solo a few times with something like a stick or even with sandals because of it is part of the process and them moving on to the next church and depending on their plan, it is ended by bathing to the river if there is a river nearby.
When I was younger there area lot of these people making their vows but as years pass by there are only a handful of them doing it. Sometimes I saw a few of them dancing as they walk-by in cadence of hitting their bloodied backs and it is always fascinates me as a young boy because their is a lot of blood and I can't imagine the pain it does back them although now I realized that it was not as painful as I believed before.
It is because I know that after sometime the pain will go away after the sting of making the small shallow wounds created by razor blades which is fixed into a small paddle and then tapped into the backs of the self-flagellants which they beat rhythmically to make it bleed. It looks scary because of the blood but I am sure that walking unto the hot concrete road is more painful then beating their bloodied backs.
Anyway as we reached the crossing where we have to make a left turn, there was already a heavy traffic. I already knew that it was caused by the self-flagellant gangs and their supporters which walks with them. As we got near the main church, we were told to stop by the one which could be their leader to stop in a disrespectful way saying "can't you see that there are penitents here?" Well his way of saying it pulls anger rather than saying it in respectful manner. We momentarily stopped after the self-flagellants had done their work and proceeded to walk towards our barrio where they will continue their short journey.
But we took the road of the dike adjacent to the road to avoid tailing them on their way to our barrio otherwise we will not be able to get home faster. I just hope that more people will realize that in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't teach such practices but instead follow his fundamental teaching to love one another.
Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.
This content gives me a somewhat conflicted feeling. On the one hand, I can understand that these people are expressing their faith in an extreme way, but on the other hand, it does make me think: if a belief needs to be proven by harming the body, is it still conveying love?
I may say cultures or norms or whatever but the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the dept of our sins on the cross of Calvary "Once and for all" No more sacrifice, the only thing is to stick to teaching, the precepts and instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing else..
May God help us all to be able to know deep meaning of Christ death and may his death not in vain over us.. Amen🙏