Traditions of Panama City
A canal capital where the pollera dress, Carnaval and Black Christ procession tie history and faith together.
Panama City is a meeting of Pacific and Caribbean, the capital of a country of the Canal. The pollera, a full, embroidered dress with a lace skirt, is the national costume, and is worn for festivals. The Guna people of the San Blas islands make the colourful mola, a layered appliqué textile.
Polleras and the Black Christ
On the Day of Mothers and at Carnaval, women wear polleras with hair ornaments of gold and pearls. The Black Christ of Portobelo is honoured on 21 October with a procession by purple-robed pilgrims in a slow sway. The Corpus Christi festival in La Villa de Los Santos features the Dance of the Devils.
At the table
Sancocho, a chicken and yam soup, is the national dish, and ropa vieja, shredded beef, and patacones, fried plantain, are common. Hojaldras, fried dough, are eaten at breakfast, and tamales at Christmas. Seco, a sugarcane spirit, and chicheme, a corn drink, are drunk.
Signature traditions of Panama City
Also part of it, and being written: Sancocho (The soup.).
A trail idea for Panama City
- Casco Viejo Walk the old town.
- Mercado de Mariscos Taste ceviche.
- Miraflores Locks See the Canal.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mola: Johantheghost, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pollera: Pedro Szekely, CC BY 2.0, source