Eyewitnesses have taken photographs of the grisly scenes and circulated them online. In Raqqa, a Syrian city, ISIS terrorists have tied the bodies of some of their victims to crosses with string and publicly displayed them in the square. Victims of ISIS Executions, Whose Corpses Were Crucified and Displayed
But he still struggled to shoulder the cross to the site of his crucifixion. In 2009, Diego Villagrán Villalobos, the 18-year-old football player chosen to play Jesus, embarked on an enhanced fitness regimen that included running more than three miles a day to prepare for his performance. Many of the key parts have remained with certain families for generations, handed down from father to son and mother to daughter. The spectacle lasts the entire Holy Week, has 50 main roles and attracts more than two million spectators. (As for Judas, the villain, he has to put up with taunts of “traitor,” and may even have rotten fruit thrown at him.) Once cast, the actors must emulate the purity of their characters. Oh – and no dating, drinking, smoking or partying for Jesus, or Mary either. Finally, he must withstand 20 minutes bound to the cross in Iztapalapa, a borough of Mexico City. He must endure a ritual whipping, then drag a 200-pound cross for three miles up a steep hill. The man chosen to play Jesus in one of the biggest, most ardent passion plays in the world faces challenges beyond embodying the savior of all humankind. The actor portraying Jesus in the Iztapalapa Passion Play His wife, Juanita, keeps the four nails soaking in alcohol year round. Souvenir sellers and food vendors work the crowd, proving no spectacle is too gory to make a peso. The Filipino Catholic Church officially disapproves of the annual rites, but that has done little to stop the devout. Enaje’s wounds heal within a couple of months. After hanging on the cross for five minutes, he is brought down to have the wounds cleaned and bandaged. Thousands watch as Enaje has 5-inch stainless steel nails driven into his hands and feet. He continued for nine more years as a prayer for healing for his asthmatic daughter, and an additional nine for his wife, suffering from a lump in her jaw. Initially, Enaje promised God he would be crucified for nine years, his thanks for surviving a three-story fall from a billboard he was painting. I guess God wants me to continue this sacrifice as a lifetime vow.” “But every time I say that, my wife gets sick. “Two years ago, I said it would be the last time I’d do it,” Enaje told a journalist in 2013.
Enaje is thought to have performed it the most times. As of 2014, he had been nailed to a cross for 28 consecutive years, volunteering annually for the gory ritual.Įnaje is one of many Filipinos, most from the northern province of Pampanga, who re-enact the death of Jesus Christ every Good Friday. When it comes to crucifixion bragging rights, it’s hard to top Ruben Enaje, a Filipino sign painter.