Our Lady of Assumption Parish Church is a 19th century Neo-Byzantine-Romanesque stone church located in Bulakan, Bulacan and it is one of the old churches in the province. It was declared as Marked Historical Structure of the Philippines in 2007.
During Holy Week or the Lenten season, this church is the center of a famous presentation, they call it Dakip. It is a Filipino word which means to arrest or to abduct. From the word itself, you can easily identify what does this event signifies. It is a play that portrays on how Jesus Christ was captured before crucifixion. Photos below will describe this play.
Dakip is one of the must visit Holy Week presentations in the Philippines.
According
to the residents (not the organizer), Dakip is been a part of their rich culture. It is just
one of their tradition that gives a huge impact to their religious
belief. Not all the baranggays of Bulakan needs to do it, but the local
parish is the one who gives location where this event could be held.
According
to my research, a group from the local parish will create a list that
contains the names of the men who are member of their group. Then,
they will pick a name of who will be abducted on the selected date (mostly moundy Thursday) at around 6PM. The other group members will find the chosen one and
will be brought to the church, where the event will start and it will be
followed by repentance. While the chosen one is walking, barefooted, with a huge cross on his shoulder, few people hits the him with a palm leaves. It's more than 400 meters walk to Bulakan Church, where the activity will ended with a mass.
This post does NOT reflect my own belief about Christianity