Easter traditions can be quirky. Greeks throw vases out of windows, Poles use little plastic eggs to squirt water on each other and Finns turn Easter into Halloween.
But the Dane Lasse Spang Olsen skipped Easter eggs and semi-anonymous letters altogether and went right back to the root of it all.
On Good Friday, the 48-year-old filmmaker participated in a re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the northern Filipino village Santa Lucia.
Along with 8 Filipino devotees he had himself nailed to a wooden cross by men dressed as Roman soldiers.
The Roman Catholic Church may denounce the ritual that started about 60 years ago, but in a country where about 80 percent of the population is Catholic, some people consider the re-enactment an extreme display of devotion.
Danilo Ramos, 43, has been crucified 23 times now and is nowhere near done. "I will do it as long as my body will allow me. I hope God will see my sacrifice and take good care of my family,” he told Haaretz news network.
Olsen had made a movie two years ago about the ritual, but this time he had a colleague film his grimacing face as 10 cm long stainless steel nails were hammered into his palms and feet. DR2 will show the footage on a ‘Temalørdag' (themed Saturday).
After hanging from the cross for 15 minutes and being helped down, Olsen said of his experience: “Fantastic, you should try it.”
You’d think Jesus had already suffered enough on our behalf.
