At least 11 Filipino devotees were nailed to the cross during Good Friday reenactments of Christ's final hours.

Forty-five-year-old Ruben Enaje grimaces as he is nailed to the cross for the 20th time during annual lenten rites in San Pedro Cutud village, in San Fernando city about 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Manila on Friday April 14, 2006. Enaje said it is his way of thanking God for miraculously surviving a fall from a building when he was a construction worker. At least seven Filipino devotees were nailed believing that the sacrifice would save them from sin. [AP]

The Lenten ritual, opposed by religious leaders in the Philippines, is an annual tradition in this farming village about 45 miles north of the capital, Manila.

The Roman Catholic devotees were crucified in batches, their palms and feet attached to wooden crosses with four-inch nails soaked in alcohol to prevent infection.

Nine devotees underwent the ritual in San Pedro Cutud, including Ruben Enaje, a 45-year-old commercial sign maker who was nailed to the cross for the 20th time.

Enaje has said it is his way of thanking God after he miraculously survived a fall from a building when he was a construction worker.

In Kapitangan, another village north of Manila, two men wearing long wigs and tin crowns were nailed to the cross before about 1,000 spectators.