The Moriones Festival is one of the most visually striking religious festivals in the Philippines. Every Holy Week, residents of Boac, Mogpog, and other Marinduque towns dress as Roman centurions in hand-carved wooden masks, painted and lacquered with individual designs that take months to make, and elaborate armour sewn from cloth and painted to look like metal. They stalk through the streets, hide from each other, chase children, and perform the Passion story across a full week of processions.
The masks are the festival's defining feature — each one is a unique piece of folk art, representing a Roman soldier's face with exaggerated expressions. Some families have been making and wearing the same masks for generations. The climax on Easter Sunday draws crowds from across the Philippines and significant numbers of international visitors, but even earlier in the week the streets of Boac have a strange, carnival-religious atmosphere that is unlike anything else in the country.