Catholics walk barefoot in mud ritual

Catholic devotees gather in rice paddies to cover their bodies with mud and dried banana leaves for the annual 'Taong Putik' festival honouring St. John the Baptist. Men, women and children smear mud on their faces and heads, dip leaves into the fields, and then walk barefoot along village roads carrying candles.

The ritual is held each year as devotees give thanks for answered prayers and fulfil vows made to the saint.

Today, thousands are thought to join the procession. After leaving the rice fields, the mud-covered devotees head to St. John the Baptist Church for Mass, where hymns are sung near small fires made from candle offerings.