In Kalaan, flagellants wear skirts (suot babae). Filipino machos thus humiliate themselves, another act of penance. Also noteworthy is the typical headdress of Kalayaan's penitents.
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Click image to enlarge.
This woman was making skirts for the flagellants. In older pictures from Kalayaan, I noticed that most people were wearing skirts made of dry banana leaves while the modern day flagellants seem to use fresh areca palms and talipot palms.
Humans have always been looking for a
way home. For a way to connect with our Higher Consciousness. For a way
to reconnect with our creator. Throughout human history, human beings
have used temporary artificial means to raise their vibrational level,
to try to reconnect with Higher Consciousness. Drugs and alcohol,
meditation and exercise, sex and religion, starvation and overeating,
the self-torture of the flagellant or the deprivation of the hermit -
all are attempts to connect with higher consciousness. Attempts to
reconnect with Spiritual Self. Attempts to go home.
The Dance of The Wounded Souls Trilogy Book 1 Robert Burney
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Sorry, it is bloody...
The flagellant beats his back to draw the blood from the wounds using wooding sticks, each one tied to a cord and bundled together. Wood is the preferred material because its weight gives it a strong smack. Once you have heard that sound you will never forget it...
The bloodier the better, the flagellants claim, because this expels unwanted dirty blood.
(source: Cuaresma. Published by Bookmark)
Flagellants
Flagellantism was a 13 century and 14 century radical Christian movement. It began as a militant pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals.
Flagellation (from Latin flagellare, to whip) was not uncommon practice amongst the more fervently religious. Various pre-Christian religions, like the cult of Isis in Egypt and the Dionysian cult of Greece, practiced their own forms of flagellation.
At first, flagellation became a form of penance in the Christian church, especially in ascetic monastic orders. As well as flagellation, the rituals were built around processions, hymns, distinct gestures, uniforms, and discipline.
Initially the Catholic Church tolerated the Flagellants and individual monks and priests joined in the early movements. By the 14th century the Church was less tolerant and the rapid spread of the movement was alarming. Clement VI officially condemned them in 1349 and instructed Church leaders to suppress the Flagellants.
Modern processions of hooded Flagellants are still a feature of various Mediterranean Catholic countries, mainly in Spain, Portugal and Italy and some former colonies.
Flagellation is still common in the Philippines during Lent.
(Source: wikipedia)
For those interested in the meaning of flagellations there is an indepth article here. The revival of religious self-flagellation in lowland Christian Philippines by Nicholas H. Barker.
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Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.
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Click image to enlarge.
To prepare himself, the flagellant either whips himself or has himself whipped by a companion.
