"salibatbat": human crucifixion (Philippines)

As far as I am aware, the Catholic Church has forbidden people from taking part in the old Christian tradition of self flagellation during lent. We call these people "salibatbat" and we still have them in the Philippines. Just this morning when I went out for a jog, I saw a few men carrying wooden crosses on their shoulders, apparently in preparation for their personal penitence.

Tradition: What's the whole idea?
According to the tradition, men (or should we call them "sinners"?) wishing to be forgiven for their grave sins should willingly share with Jesus' sufferings. These men then reenact Jesus' painful journey to Calvary in order to be worthy of Jesus' forgiveness.

Reenactment: journey to Calvary
The journey may start when the Pabasa starts, which is either Holy Wednesday or Holy Thursday (Pabasa: devotees sing/read Christ's passion, although now also discouraged by the Church, is tolerated in the Philippines). The salibatbat's sacrifice end at Good Friday, 3pm because it is believed that Jesus died on the cross at 3pm.

Trivia: The reason why 3am is said to be the devil's hour - it's the devil mocking the hour of Christ's death.

The participants cover their faces for anonymity. I believe the original reason for this is that since it's a grave act, it's usually people with grave sins that participate in the tradition and they wouldn't want to be the center of gossip. However, a more appropriate reason (although not necessarily the participants' personal reasons) is that the participant should not take credit for his act of contrition - that sharing Jesus' sufferings should not be boasted about. The "mask" used to be either of black cloth or a black t-shirt that they tie over their heads by linking the shirt sleeves on the nape. In a tropical country like ours, a black shirt in the summer, let alone when the sun is highest, isn't the most comfortable attire. To have that black shirt cover your face for three hours... that could only be worse. However, the "modern" salibatbat are now preferring white cloths - most probably because the black cloths are much too warmer from the inside.

They are then given crowns of thorns. The crown is put ontop of the "mask". There were people in the past who used to use barbed wires as crowns and those must have hurt like hell. Then there were who wanted a more "natural look". They opted for stems with leaves and thorns from a bougainvillea plant. But the salibatbat I see on the streets mellowed down since 10 years ago - they now only wear crowns of harmless leaves, probably from a vine they entwined. Also, they now wear rubber slippers. It was also part of the tradition that they go bare foot but I guess it may also be due to the fact that more roads are cemented, which are far hotter than soil ground.

Some salibatbat start by having others whip their backs using a banana shoot patch (yes, bananas don't come from trees!) then proceed to visiting different pabasa centers (some visit seven different churches to follow the traditional Visita Iglesia) while self flagellating by whipping their backs with bamboo sticks tied to one end of a rope; others flagellate for a while then carry their cross after - imitating Jesus' Scourging at the Pillar and then Carrying of the Cross.

Other salibatbat neither whip their backs nor carry a cross. They crawl on the ground - not on their hands and on their knees but flat on their front like worms - to show their remorse.

The extremists go as far as have themselves crucified on the cross. Some have nails driven through their palms while supporting ropes are tied on their arms so that they won't slide down. The same is done with their feet. This act is extremely painful and most only last for a couple of minutes. A more popular form of "crucifixion" is being tied to a cross for 15 minutes.

Trivia: archeologists claim that the original cross of the Jews are of the shape of a "T" instead of a "+". Because it's far easier to nail a person to a horizontal bar with a hollow in the middle and then just slide that horizontal bar ontop of the vertical post that is a fixture on their curcifixion hill/spot.

What's wrong with all of these?
Self flagellation does not make someone worthy of Christ's forgiveness. Jesus Christ gave Himself up to save us from our sins. Does that mean that everyone, including sinners, will all go to heaven? I wouldn't know. It's not my Kingdom to share. But according to Catholic beliefs, by dying on the Cross, Jesus fulfilled "His part of the bargain" (of course we didn't really bargain with our Lord) and all that's left for us to do is to accept Christ as our Lord, which is basically the "hard part".