Alva Review-Courier -

SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines (AP) — Several Roman Catholic devotees were nailed to wooden crosses in a gory Good Friday ritual in the Philippines, and others flogged themselves or took part in religious plays to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering.

Four men and a woman, some wearing crowns of twigs, were escorted by villagers dressed as Roman centurions and nailed to crosses on a dusty hill in San Pedro Cutud village. Similar reenactments played out in nearby farming towns in the northern Philippines.

Thousands, including many tourists, watch the annual spectacle. The Catholic Church frowns upon...