Christmas in Cuba 

Cuba is a Caribbean island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, 90 miles south of Key West, Florida.

Cuban Christmas customs were similar to those of Spain, with some North American influences, prior to the revolution of 1959 when Fidel Castro assumed power.

The most festive time during the holidays was nochebuena (lit. "good night") or Christmas Eve. A traditional meal consisting of roast pork, black beans served over rice, fried mashed plantains and "yuca"--a native tuber best known by North Americans as tapioca, but also called cassava or mandioc in other regions. Large families would roast an entire pig by digging a pit in the ground and roasting it over coals, covered with banana leaves. In the cities, an oven-roasted fresh ham was more common. For desert, a type of nougat candy from Spain called turron was traditionally served. There are three main varieties of this delicacy: egg or yema, hard almond nougat from Alicante, or soft almond nougat from Jijona. Candied quince, membrillo from Spain, native candied guava, and walnuts and filberts imported from the U.S. would complement the turron; and, of course, there would have been the ubiquitous Cuban flan--a very sweet custard--served with Cuban coffee, remarkably stronger than espresso!

The family, which in Cuba meant the extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and seemingly every imaginable living relative, would feast and dance to Cuban music. This was followed by everyone attending midnight mass together. By contrast, Christmas day was a relatively quiet day. As in Spain, gifts were exchanged on the day of Epiphany, or January 6th, when children were told that their gifts had been brought by the Magi, Reyes Magos. Schools would always be closed on January 6th for this observance, as this was the day children would receive their toys.

There were no Christmas trees in Cuba until the 1940s when the tradition was introduced from the United States. Due to the proximity to the U.S., Santa Claus also found his way there eventually, but he was not the bringer of toys as he is in the U.S.--only of candy. By the 1950s, quite a bit of the commercialism so prevalent in the U.S. had made its way to Cuba. Decorated storefronts, gift giving, American Christmas carols and dubbed versions of American Christmas classics were common.

After the communist revolution, celebrations of Christmas ceased and were discouraged as Marxism-Leninism holds to a basically secular, atheist philosophy.

As a result of the Pope's visit to Cuba several years ago, Christmas celebrations have returned. There are Christmas and Reyes Magos processions once again and, in this age of satellite television, large, outdoor TV screens are set up in the square outside Havanna's cathedral so that crowds can watch the Pope celebrate Christmas Mass at St. Peter's in Rome.

Information From:

http://christmas.com/worldview/cu

Communist Cuba to Celebrate Christmas

02 December, 1998

By Ross Adams
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) – The Cuban Communist Party has proposed for the second year in a row that Christmas be celebrated in the isolated island nation. UPI reports that the party is calling for the reinstatement of December 25th as a permanent holiday. In a declaration published by the party's official newspaper, leaders say they were justified in banning Christmas celebrations since 1970. They say it was for economic and not religious reasons.


Information From:

http://www.cnsnews.com/Culture/archive/CUL19981202c.html

December 10, 1997
Church wants Christmas reinstated in communist Cuba
By Frances Kerry
HAVANA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Cuba's Catholic church is waiting to see if the communist government will restore the Christmas holiday this year ahead of the Pope's visit, its leader said on Tuesday. Christmas ceased to be a holiday in Cuba nearly 30 years ago under the revolution led by Fidel Castro. Pope John Paul II will visit the island in January for the first time. Cardinal Jaime Ortega told a news conference that the pontiff asked Castro for Christmas to be reinstated as a public holiday when they met a year ago at the Vatican. He said it would be "very desirable'' for the government to restore Christmas, but added that there was still no official word on the matter. Christmas was dropped from the Cuban calendar of holidays in 1969 as the island strove for a record sugar harvest. December 25 is now a normal working day in Cuba, although many Cubans do celebrate Christmas in their own homes. Those who can afford it try to make a special meal and decorate their houses, and church-going Christians attend services.
Two years ago, the church called for greater respect for the celebration of Christmas after authorities banned the public display of Christmas trees and nativity scenes, other than in places frequented by tourists, such as hotels. Ortega said that not knowing whether Christmas would be a holiday again was holding up his own decision on whether to make the one appearance he has been granted on state television in December or in January.
Ortega has been allowed to go on television to explain the significance of the papal visit. But he said the church would like more access to the state-run media to explain the visit, saying there had been little on the papal trip in the media.
Although Catholicism is a broad cultural backdrop in Cuba, the number of practising Catholics among the country's 11 million people is more limited. Many ordinary Cubans know little about the Pope and his work.
Ortega, who Monday night celebrated the last of a series of 13 preparatory masses in the Havana region with an open-air service in the capital's cathedral square, gave a broad outline of the pope's program in Cuba.
He said the pontiff, who will spend each night in Havana, would address the theme of the family at a mass in the central city of Santa Clara on Jan. 22, the day after his arrival. In the afternoon he would meet Castro for 30-45 minutes at the Palace of the Revolution.
On Jan. 23, he would travel to Camaguey and address the issue of youth, returning to visit Havana University in the afternoon.
The following day he would visit the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, addressing the theme of patriotism and crowning Cuba's Roman Catholic patron, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre. He would later meet sick people in a visit to a hospital on the outskirts of Havana.
On his last day, the pontiff would celebrate mass in Havana's Revolution Square and then meet Catholic clergy and lay people at the city's cathedral, before leaving for Rome.
The historic meeting between Castro and the Pope in November last year marked a clear improvement in ties between his communist government and the Catholic church, which have been frequently strained since the 1959 revolution.

Information From:

http://www.siamglobalplus.com/christmas/world.html#cuba

RELIGION: Cuba to Officially Celebrate Christmas

HAVANA, Dec 2 (IPS) - The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) is putting the holiday back into Christmas ''for Christians and non- Christians, believers and non-believers alike.''

Suspended in 1969 and allowed as an ''exception'' last year, the Christmas Eve meal is one of the oldest traditions of Cuban families, regardless of whether they are practicing Christians.

The Christmas holiday also is high on the list of demands of the Catholic Church in Cuba which gained strength through the visit of Pope John Paul II here in January this year.

Christmas will be returned to the Cuban calendar as ''proof of our consideration and respect for the wholesome sentiments and desires of our fellow citizens,'' said a declaration from the PCC Political Bureau published by the Communist party daily 'Granma.'

''No type of campaign or pressure has been applied either within or outside'' Cuba for the government of President Fidel Castro to allow celebration of the Christmas holiday ''just as is done throughout the Americas and the rest of the Western world,'' the Political Bureau said.

According to the Communist leadership, bringing back the holiday implies ''sacrificing millions of pesos (on a par with dollars at the official exchange rate) in salaries and goods and services not produced,'' at a time when the country is riding out a severe economic crisis.

The PCC declaration appeared aimed at united the island's population behind the Cuiban revolution, ue to celebrate its 40th anniversary in January.

Although the PCC Political Bureau only proposed Cuba officially recognize Christmas in its declaration to the State Council Tuesday, its acceptance is regarded as a formality.

Both the party leadership body and the government are headed by Castro.

Reacting to the news, the president of the Cuban Conference of Catholioc Bishops, Monsignor Adolfo Rodriguez, said ''we are interested in this development...it seems logical and highly probable to us that Christmas will be recognised as a holiday.''

Orlando Marquez, spokesman of the episcopal conference, said the reinstitution of the Christmas holiday was ''without a doubt a positive step'' corresponding with ''the religious sentiments of the Cubans.''

''Christians never stopped celebrating Christmas, even when the day was not recognized as a holiday,'' he said.

According to the Political Bureau, Christmas originally was excluded from the list of public holidays when the authorities were caught up in trying to concentrate all possible resources to bring in a 10 million ton sugar harvest.

Official arguments state December is ''a dry month, cool, highly suited to work on construction and the sowing, growing or harvesting of potatoes, vegetables, sugarcane, tobacco and other items important to the national economy.''

Hence it was the economic imperative which led to the cancellation of Christmas and also the elimination of any political event or national celebration on January 1 - the commemoration date of the Cuban Revolution.

''The best evidence that the suspension of the holiday on December 25 was not of a political nature, was the fact it remained untouched for 10 years'' following the revolution in 1961, argued the PCC document. The suspension of the Christmas holiday for more than two decades ''was not inspired by any religious sentiment, although there are some people abroad who have perfidiously tried to say otherwise.''

The Political Bureau said not even enemy action would have been able to impose ''the mean, awkward and undiplomatic idea, of suspending (a religious holiday) for philosophical differences,'' with the risk of offending hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide.

''No true Marxist would ever commit this mistake,'' it added categorically.

It warned, however, the revolution will still continue to defend itself against unscrupulous methods used by ''imperialism'' (the United States) to destroy it - including the use of religious sentiments for counter-revolutionary ends. (END/IPS/tra-so/da/mj/sm/mk/98)

Information From:

http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/Dec98/21_06_081.html

Cardinal praises restoration of Christmas in Cuba

by Seattle Times news services

HAVANA - Granted a rare opportunity to speak on government radio, Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said yesterday the restored Christmas holiday had brought joy to the country's people, and he urged them to preserve the day as one of faith and family love, free from commercialization.

Ortega, archbishop of Havana and leader of Cuba's Catholics, made the plea in a special 15-minute Christmas message broadcast on a minor state radio station.

"This is a great joy for the church and for the Cuban people," Ortega said in his broadcast. "Now let us hope that it won't be the commercial tinkling of an imported Santa Claus that announces Christmas in Cuba."

After abolishing the Dec. 25 holiday in 1969 to concentrate national efforts on the strategic sugar harvest, Cuba's communist government this month officially restored Christmas Day to the national public holiday calendar.

It was not immediately clear how many Cubans actually heard Ortega's message or even knew about it.

Much of Cuba's state mass media appeared to largely ignore the holiday.

On its front page, the Communist Party newspaper Granma carried a lead article hailing the rapid growth of the island's tourist sector and a piece headlined "Communist Youth celebrates 40 Januaries" in reference to the upcoming 40th anniversary of Cuba's 1959 revolution.

Even if all Cubans did not grasp the religious or historical significance of the day, most took advantage of the holiday to spend time with family and friends.

On Christmas Eve, many Cubans revived the old tradition of a family meal, usually pork, rice, beans and vegetables. Some went to Catholic Mass and other Christian ceremonies held at midnight on Christmas Eve and later again on Christmas Day.

Information From:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/nation-world/html98/cuba_122698.html

The Return of Christmas
The first official religious holiday is a low-key but heartfelt celebration
BY WILLIAM VOURVOULIAS

The tinny renditions of Christmas carols that played in stores and churches throughout Havana this holiday season suggested that Santa Claus was coming to town. Cubans were prepared, judging by the 3-ft. artificial trees and plastic Santas adorning many homes, and they weren't entirely disappointed. The U.S. State Department last week provided a belated Christmas gift--a slight change in policy that will allow any American citizen, not just those of Cuban descent, to send money to individuals and nongovernment organizations in Cuba. But uncertainty, more than joy, ruled the holidays, and the estimated $600,000 to $800,000 a year that enters the economy from abroad doesn't begin to touch the needs of the average Cuban, who makes only $10 a month.

Cubans are accustomed to doing without. Since the revolution, which turned 40 on New Year's Day, they have learned to live with little in the way of disposable income, personal freedoms or religious celebrations. The Castro government has had a particular problem with Christmas--perhaps because it occurs so close to Jan. 1. The holiday was officially banned by Fidel Castro in 1969, ostensibly to squeeze in an extra day's work on the sugar crop.

There have been years since then, Carolina Alarcon remembers, when the small church she attends in southwest Havana would hold Christmas Mass "even if there were only two or three people." Cubans weren't allowed to have a Christmas tree, says the mother of two, but "I always had one anyway. I just made sure it didn't show from the street."

Nowadays in Havana things are thawing a little on the cultural front, and even gay men, historically the most oppressed group in Cuba, are slowly becoming more visible on the streets. Despite Roman Catholic doctrine, which denounces homosexuality, a bond between gay men and the church in Cuba was forged in the early '60s, when priests and seminarians like Havana's current Cardinal, Jaime Ortega y Alamino, were sent to "re-education" camps along with homosexuals and other "social deviants." Last January, thanks to conditions imposed by the Vatican as part of Pope John Paul II's visit, religious ceremonies were held openly throughout Cuba, and Christmas returned at last--provisionally in 1997, officially in 1998.

After 30 years, Christmas to most Cubans has come to mean, as Osmani Dayun, 18, a technical school student, puts it, "an opportunity to eat well and drink rum with friends." But the Catholic Church is rushing to put its stamp back on the holiday, and many Cubans seem to be responding. On Dec. 23, nearly 1,000 people attended a choral-singing concert held in the plaza in front of Havana's main cathedral, and 3,500 turned up there for Christmas Mass, where Cardinal Ortega exhorted them to "leave behind the celebration of Christmas without religion."

The odds are still stacked against him. For many years, the government taught students to distrust the church, and this has increased the number of middle-aged agnostics. "Those who grew up before 1959 never lost their faith," explains Monsignor Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, "and young people are coming to us now asking to be baptized. It's the middle generation that is lost to the church."

Nonetheless, the lost generation was in evidence at Havana's celebrations. Many nonbelievers, like Susanna Mayor, 35, a government clerical worker, attended because they enjoyed "the spectacle, the way everything's out in the open." "I'm more or less a believer," says Julio Colon, 24, one of a large gay contingent at the cathedral. "But it's also a political, human-rights thing. The church and Cardinal Ortega have supported the gay community, and we fill the churches every week."

There are still good reasons for caution. Yelena Gutierrez, who lives in the once posh Vedado section of Havana, put up a decorated Christmas tree on her front porch. "Some young men in our CDR"--Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are a government-sponsored network of neighborhood watch-style groups--"saw it one night when they were walking down the street," she says. "They started throwing rocks at the house. So now I move the tree inside at night." She adds, "In Cuba, you never know who won't like what."

Strangely enough, the Communist Party is also attempting to claim Christmas. The official line is that there has been no substantive change of policy, that Christmas has always been celebrated. Monsignor de Cespedes hints at one reason for this when, referring to how the Cuban Christmas celebration became secularized, he says, "After the revolution, Christmas and New Year's celebrations merged. But it doesn't matter. Historically speaking, 30 or 40 years is nothing." "I've had the feeling that we're waiting," Gutierrez says. "I'm not certain for what, but we're waiting."

Information From:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0%2C8816%2C19389%2C00.html

Wednesday, December 2, 1998; 10:06 a.m. EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican expressed satisfaction Wednesday that Cuba has decided to make Christmas a permanent holiday, saying the international community will surely welcome the move.

Fidel Castro's government granted a Christmas holiday last year as a one-time favor to Pope John Paul II, who visited in January.

John Paul asked that Christmas be made a regular holiday on the Cuban calendar, but until now the government had resisted making the measure permanent.

The Communist Party recommended Tuesday that ``from this year on'' Dec. 25 should be a holiday in Cuba, formally reestablishing a custom abolished in 1969. The proposal is sure to be adopted by the Communist government.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the announcement was received ``with satisfaction,'' saying it ``responds to a precise desire of the pope and the Cuban church, and I believe will not go unobserved by the international community.''

Information From:

http://www.christusrex.org/www2/fcf/vaticanpraisescuba.html

Now in its third year, Cuba celebrates Christmas publicly, a holiday that had been banned for over a quarter of a century. After all this time not practicing, how Christmas 1999 will be celebrated in Cuba remains to be seen. But Cubans have always been practicing -- in church, at home, or at friends’ homes -- their own faith and belief in spirituality while also respecting organized religions and the principles of the state.

Information from:

http://www.quepasa.com/Front_End/SecondaryB/LatinoWorld/0,1225,19847-2-796,00.html