Black Jesus

Portobelo, Panama

Besides being the stepping off point for exploring the San Blas Islands, Portobelo, Panama is known for being the home of the Black Jesus. The Black Jesus is one of the odder venerated artifacts in Christiandom.

So first off it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a statue of a black Jesus.

The story of the Black Jesus is that he washed up on the shore of Portobelo, and nobody knows where he was made. Several times people tried to carry Black Jesus by boat to somewhere else, and every time a storm forced Black Jesus back to Panama. Once a crew threw Black Jesus overboard, and he miraculously swam back to the shore of Portobelo.

Thus Black Jesus became legend, and now people all over Panama worship him.

In October there's a huge festival where tens of thousands of people descend on Portobelo to beg Black Jesus for blessings. Sixty men carry Black Jesus around the town. From what I've read the processional gait is two large steps forward and three small steps back, to mimic the movement of the sea. I guess Black Jesus likes that.

Many believers make the 100km pilgrimage from Panama City to Portobelo on foot. Some people crawl the final kilometer on hands and knees. This is particularly popular amongst convicted criminals seeking atonement. For this reason Black Jesus is sometimes called the "patron saint of criminals." Which is odd. Usually people paint Jesus as a tad more goddish than that.

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One of the reasons people travel is to gain exposure to cultures different from their own. I've had lots of conversations about this with other backpackers, and turns out I'm less tolerant than your typical traveler.

Exhibit A: To me this Black Jesus nonsense is pretty damn stupid. Seeing people worship him makes me feel embarrassed for them and then guilty for feeling embarrassed for them.

I feel that way about a lot of things.

I think it's ridiculous that any god would care if you ate meat on a Friday as opposed to a Thursday. Or if you put cheese on the meat plate. Or why a god would be so obsessed with how women dress but not much care about the dress code for the fellas.

I'm fully open to the possibility that there is a God or gods. But to me omnipotence on that scale would be beyond our simple human understanding.

Religious mantras tend to personify God - a la a God who gets angry with Moses from time to time. They also tend to put humans at the center of the universe. Everything is the way it is because some God is first and foremost concerned with you.

Those ideas and all conclusions flowing from them - veils, transubstantiation, Harry Potter book burnings - do nothing for me.

Travelling hasn't changed my opinion on any of that.