Christmas in Cuba
Christmas is not very “celebrated” in Varadero as in the rest of Cuba. However, hotels put up decorations and offer more elaborate meals, with entertainment, to celebrate the holiday.
Many travelers in hotels take the opportunity to take photos on the beach and it's sometimes very funny!
Cuba is a communist-ruled country. For decades, its government has rejected capitalism and commercialization, of which Christmas is the most ostentatious product.
Except in tourist resorts like Varadero or Cayo Coco, Christmas involves no gift-giving, no gala dinners, no Christmas commercials and jingles in the throat or eardrums, no turkey, hats or crackers.
Instead, Christmas passed like any other, as thousands of tourists – Christmas stampedes or otherwise – choose to visit Cuba, where political history manifests itself on almost every street corner, through some form of artistic propaganda.
Christmas in Cuba was effectively banned by the Castro regime in 1969, as Fidel believed it interfered with the production of sugar cane – Cuba’s largest export. This ban was finally lifted in 1998, following a visit from Pope John Paul II who encouraged Fidel to soften his stance. Since then, Cuban families have been allowed to celebrate Christmas at home, but it remains a rare sight. 29 years without Christmas is a long time; enough time for an entire generation to grow up without knowing or valuing the tradition. So naturally, when it is reinstated, no one really cares about it anymore.
On Christmas Day, children go to school and shops, restaurants and markets remain open for business. You might catch a glimpse of Christmas as we know it, through the open doors of a grand hotel or in a casa with American connections, but beyond that there are no obvious signs.”
New Year's Day
December 31st is much more celebrated by Cubans.
Conga 2018 in Varadero:
According to Wikipedia: “The conga appeared in the 18th century in Cuba, but it is of African (Bantu) origin. It is a percussion instrument in the shape of a drum with a membrane and which comes in different sizes, so that several are played at the same time. It has spread throughout Latin music. Originally called tumbadora in Cuba, the name conga comes from a rhythm of the Havana Carnival, very popular in the United States in the 1930s. The Americans will therefore rename the instrument with the name of this dance.”
In the hotels, our members told us that there were gala dinners and special evenings.
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