Word: christe
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...broad range of images collapsed into the space of the crucifix-the processional crosses in particular-was amazing, and encompass many more theological elements than the standard Christ-in-Torment . A common addition is the Apostle Quartet, usually in their symbolic representations: Luke as an ox, Matthew the angel, John the eagle, and Mark the lion. Two sets of plaques from processional crosses are beautifully enameled with these figures, the greens and blues breathtakingly vivid through so many centuries. Sometimes Adam rises from his tomb on the bottom spar, and in one mid 1400s Italian work it's Mary Magdalen...
...European religious aestheticism,from a highly schematized bronze working of the mid-12th-century to an exquisitely detailed ivory piece by an early 17th-century Venetian artist. A glass case offers enameled plaques from processional crosses, each no larger than a silver dollar, while a near-lifesize wooden Christ Descending adorns one wall. For the small size of its sampling, The Art of the Cross represents the remarkable diversity of forms available to Medieval and Renaissance artists...
...parameters that governed the creation of these crucifixes-regardless of century, country, or medium-must have been rigid, as there is a set of fairly strict conventions apparent in the pieces. For instance, the artist seemed not to have much latitude in portraying Christ's body: head sunk to the right, right foot crossed over left, knees bent, eyes half closed, mouth slightly open. Here the earliest piece-the clunky bronze staring at you from the first display case-diverges, or perhaps precedes the established conventions. But every other Christ in the room conforms...
...PHILIPPINES Asia's only predominantly Christian country takes repentance to extremes. Here, in some of the world's most gruesome religious rites, men and women flagellate and even crucify themselves in dramatic exhibitions of atonement. Scores of fanatics whip their bare backs bloody with rope or re-enact Christ's final journey by dragging huge wooden crosses through the streets before the supplicants are hammered into place and raised aloft under a crown of thorns and above a weeping "Mary." The spectacle is as fascinating as it is repelling. One of the main festivals is on Good Friday...
Less gory are the Moriones Festivals on Marinduque Island, south of Manila. Visitors can join masked processions and passion plays over the weekend. The theme is un-Christian revenge: a mock-up of the head of Longinus, one of the centurions who guarded Christ, is paraded through the streets. Or try spooky Siquijor Island, south of Cebu. Long a center for paganism and magic, the island attracts numerous witches on Good Friday who gather to brew and administer love potions, supposedly most potent on the godless day of Christ's death...