Seminary in Panama: Sir Francis Drake and the Black Christ of Portobelo...

I was brought the other day to visit Portobelo which is a small port on the Atlantic coast of Panama. This was one of the major trading ports of the New World and was the channel through which much of the gold that was discovered in Central America made its way back to Europe - to the Spanish court.

Of course, not everything made it to where it was intended to go!!! Pirates and Corsairs were a major problem. As far as I can make out, corsairs were really just pirates by another name, although they do seem to be associated more with the Mediterranean - one man's pirate is another man's corsair and all that...

A great many ships were attacked on their way to Europe and most of these attacks did not take place on the high seas as Hollywood would have us believe - they actually happened quite close to land. I suppose it makes sense. With no radar detection the likelihood of locating a ship on the high seas would have been very slim indeed. The pirates were clever; they would wait quite close to the shore and attack the ships as they left the harbour. That is why, eventually, Portobelo came to be protected by a series of forts, three in total, which kept watch.

The pirates were, largely, English. England, let's not forget, maintained the largest fleet in the world. The Spaniards were not best pleased about this and hence the constant wars between the two countries in this period (16th/17th centuries). The Dutch also had many ships plying the route and I'm sure they must have suffered as well but this is Panama and the Dutch didn't have all that much to do with Panama.

On 27th of January, 1596, the cannons of Santiago (St. James') fort, which you can see in the photos below, put an end to one of the most notorious English pirates, Sir Francis Drake. Rather ironic that the cannons of St. James should put an end to one fighting for the Court of St. James!!! It's rather interesting, however, that there is no particular monument to this event which, I suppose, has to do with the fact that Drake was seen by the Spaniards as nothing more than a common criminal. The more romantic view of him and his exploits is probably due to a combination of his relationship with Queen Elizabeth I (the Virgin Queen, so it was obviously a very chaste relationship!!!) and Hollywood.

Portobelo was, it seems, a very sleepy place until the galleons docked and then it became a hive of activity and, in the words of some of the clergy at the time, a "den of iniquity" - plus ca change...

Portobelo remains a sleepy little place except for one week in the year when the feast of the black Christ is celebrated. This is a major religious feast here in Panama and is celebrated during the month of October. The image (difficult to photograph because it is behind glass) is made of lead and was rescued from the sea after one of the sinkings of ships by pirates in the bay. Originally intended, it is thought, for the cathedral of Seville, it has remained here in Panama. Over the years the lead has oxidised which has changed the original white figure into a black figure. It is hugely popular among Panamanians, especially the poor.

People come from miles away to participate in the fiesta and many of them travel the last miles on their knees or "de gusanito" (like a worm) - wriggling their way along on the ground until they arrive at the sanctuary. The sanctuary that you can see now was built in 1801 and replaced and earlier one that had fallen into disrepair.

The village itself is also in a state of disrepair and the presence of vultures everywhere is indicative of hte amount of rubbish that is left lying around. The Custom House still stands and now holds a small museum that tells the story of the history of this area very well by means of a video and quite a number of artefacts and models.

Tomorrow I will put up some photos of Fuerte San Lorenzo (St. Laurence's Fort) which was the fort on the other side of the bay. It is in a much better state of preservation than Santiago fort.
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