Men toting chains and pierced with cactus keep a Good Friday tradition in Atlixco, Mexico

Men toting chains and pierced with cactus keep a Good Friday tradition in Atlixco, Mexico

Every year, crowds fill the streets of the central Mexican town of Atlixco on the Catholic holiday of Good Friday to witness the sight. Throngs of half-naked men walk through the scorching streets blindfolded, toting 70-pound chains and pieces of cactus lodged in their arms and legs. It’s part of a tradition in the town where participants say they are paying penance for their sins.

Mexican crouchers celebrate this Good Friday 40 years of a tradition in which they carry up to 80 kilos of chains, as well as thorns in the body, to honor the passion of Christ in the municipality of Atlixco, Puebla, state of central Mexico.

Every year, crowds fill the streets of the city of Atlixco in central Mexico during the Catholic holiday of Good Friday to witness the scene.

Atlixco, Pue. 40 engrilled carried out the traditional Good Friday tour in Atlixco, carrying more than 70 kilos in chains on his shoulders and spines of Cáctus on his body and head. At 12 o’clock in the day the penitents left the exconvent of San Francisco de Atlixco to travel several streets in this traditional procession. They walked by Tláloc ring road, the 16 de Septiembre road and Hidalgo Avenue. Under the intense rays of the sun, some bare…

Men walk blindfolded, carrying chains of 31 kilos of weight and pieces of cactus embedded in their arms and legs.