|
Volume 5 35 |
 |
A–Z |  |
|
KICKED PROSTRATE AS A LAST HUMILIATION IN THE FLAGELLANTS' EASTER PENANCE Eastertide sees the consummation of this willingly suffered self-punishment. The devotees gather in the native cemetery, their heads swathed in leaves, an imitation of the crown of thorns. The flogging done, each one in turn kneels, his back a torn expanse of clotted blood and slashed flesh, and waits with wide-stretched arms. Upon the gore-soaked grass comes a shadow, whose symbolism is plain, and then a comrade kicks him to earth. After some prayers, the sufferer washes himself and goes away clean, as he believes, of twelve months' sin. In this way, an hour's torture brings a year's freedom from moral anxiety |