NEWSPhilippinesAdd TopicFilipino 'Mud People' honor John the BaptistDevotees wearing costumes made of banana leaves attend a mass as part of a religious festival in honor of St. John the Baptist, also known locally as the "mud people" festival, in Aliaga town, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, on June 24, 2018. Farmers coated in mud paraded in Philippine villages on June 24 to mark one of the Catholic nation's most colorful religious festivals.Noel Celis, AFP/Getty ImagesDevotees cover themselves with mud as they prepare to head to church to attend a mass as part of a religious festival in honor of St. John the Baptist, also known locally as the "mud people" festival, in Aliaga town, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, on June 24, 2018.Noel Celis, AFP/Getty ImagesA devotee wearing a costume made of banana leaves attends a mass as part of a religious festival in honor of St. John the Baptist, also known locally as the "mud people" festival, in Aliaga town, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, on June 24, 2018.Noel Celis, AFP/Getty ImagesFarmers coated in mud paraded in Philippine villages on June 24 to mark one of the Catholic nation's most colorful religious festivals.Noel Celis, AFP/Getty ImagesDevotees wearing costumes made of banana leaves attend a mass as part of a religious festival in honor of St. John the Baptist.Noel Celis, AFP/Getty ImagesThe celebration, which concludes with a mass at Aliaga's Saint John the Baptist church, can also be traced back to Japan's wartime occupation of the former US colony in the 1940s.EPA-EFEResidents say Japanese soldiers ordered all the men from one of the villages in Aliaga to be executed outside a church.Basilio H. Sepe, EPA-EFEAs women and children prayed to John the Baptist, there was a heavy downpour that forced the troops to scamper, and prompted the grateful villagers to roll happily in the mud.Basilio H. Sepe, EPA-EFETwo men cover themselves in mud as the sun rises.EPA-EFEFeatured Weekly Ad