Taller Portobelo Norte

PLEASE NOTE: This is a Cultural Trip/Artist Retreat NOT a religious or missionary trip. This Festival is more secular than sacred, a sensory overload sure to excite and ignite creative output, and is open to participants of all spiritual backgrounds!

The Feast day of the Cristo Negro of Portobelo, also known as the Black Christ Festival, is ideal for people interested in religion, Latin America and the African Diaspora, especially artists and photographers.

Participants won’t fail to be stimulated by the abundance of stunning visual imagery, overwhelming emotion and electrifying energy of the festival. More secular than sacred, the Festival boasts streets full of food vendors, shops, make-shift discoteques and pilgrims dancing, drinking, praying and partying for El Nazareno.

Artists will have the opportunity to commune with one another, work on small projects and participate in the annual religious festival that draws tens of thousands of pilgrims each year. Photographers will be attracted to the age-old rituals and traditions of the predominately black town; it’s ancient Spanish forts, slave cemetery, and retained slave and cimarron (called Congo) culture.

Participants will:
Take part in Festival activites and parties
Visit Puerta Frances beach
Do the pilgrim walk from Maria Chiquita to Portobelo (optional)
Tour historic Portobelo
Take a day tour of Panama City
Visit the Panama Canal
Take a day tour of Colon
Visit the Colon Duty Free Zone

Oral history in Portobelo tells of a crate containing a black sculptural figure of Jesus Christ magically appearing in the bay during a cholera epidemic and being brought ashore by two fishermen. Shortly after the people began venerating the figure, the epidemic miraculously ended. As a result, for the last three centuries on the 21st of October, the Feast Day of the Cristo Negro de Portobelo—Black Christ of Portobelo, is celebrated.

As many as 60,000 devotees make the yearly pilgrimage to visit the statue. Many walk from places as far away as Panama City, a journey of three days. The Black Christ Festival is more secular than sacred. The crowds of thousands eat, drink, dance, yell, laugh, and blast music until the wee hours of the morning during the days leading up to the festival. The pilgrims descend on the small village carrying their homemade altars high above their heads, dragging their heavy, life-sized crosses behind them or crawling into town, their partners pouring hot wax on their bare backs.

Professional and Emerging Photographers, Visual and Literary Artists, and the General Public interested in Latin America and the African Diaspora are eligible to apply. Knowledge of Spanish is helpful but not mandatory.

$725 per person

2 Traditional Caribbean meals per day
Multi-Occupancy Accommodations
Roundtrip Airport Transportation
2 Beach Trips
Tour of Historic Portobelo
Day Trip to Colon City
Shop in the Colon Duty Free Zone
Day Trip to Panama City
Visit the Panama Canal MiraFlores Locks
Museum Entry Fees

Roundtrip Airfare
Dinner and Meals outside of Taller Portobelo
Souvenirs

Friday, September 17, 2010

#1: Download and fill out the registration packet here: Registration Packet

#2 Pay by completing the Credit Card Authorization Form in the Registration packet

OR

Pay online here: Online Payment

OR

Mail your payment by Cashiers Check or Money Order to:
Taller Portobelo Norte
235 Walker St Atlanta, GA 30313