Religious devotion in The Philippines: taken too far?

Good Friday is the day on which Christians remember the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. It is common for passion plays and other dramatic reconstructions of the events to be performed, but at San Fernando in The Philippines they take this to an extreme not seen elsewhere, by actually nailing penitents to crosses!

During the “San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites” young men volunteer to play a central role in the passion play (either as Jesus or one of the two thieves crucified alongside him) by being tied to crosses and having nails driven through their hands into the wood of the cross.

The stainless steel nails are disinfected beforehand and the penitents do not stay aloft for long (about five minutes), but the pain must still be considerable. Needless to say, the penitents are given proper medical attention afterwards, but some are willing to come back another year and go through the ordeal all over again.

Surely this is going too far, however devoted one might be?

(The photo, by “istolethetv”, has been licenced for general use by Creative Commons)