Black Christ procession

Pilgrims from all over come to our tiny town of El Sauce during January, to celebrate the festival of the black christ.

Later, replicas of the statue and other Christs are used in processions, including this week for Semana Santa (Holy Week).

Every time I walk around, there seems to be another small devotional walk of people quietly singing.

the story goes: People in Latin America asked the Catholic church for a relic that looked like them, and so they made the Black Christ.

A priest then paraded it through Latin America, and came to El Sauce, which means willow tree, like the tree he slept under.

When he tried to leave with the christ, he died. So they sent another priest. When he also died, they decided the Black Christ was meant to stay in El Sauce, so it' sin the main church for hundreds of years.

It's pretty cool; It's the only non-white christ I've seen.