• Submitted by: admin
• Local
• Arts and Culture
• Santiago de Cuba
• 06 / 20 / 2009

---

It was in 1981 when the idea came to fruition: the creation of a Theatre festival that would revitalize the inheritance left in this land by Haitians, Jamaicans, French or Spaniards. It was in the second of its official announcements when it was the venue for other artistic expressions, and in 1983 when it inaugurated its international character. Since then, it has promoted regional culture and strengthened the bonds of friendship with various Caribbean countries.

It’s a Festival of creeds, idiosyncrasies and traditions. It is, simply, the Fiesta del Fuego. A celebration of colors and culture, whose relevance goes beyond its traditional and famous conclusion of burning the devil. It is Santiago de Cuba that claims all the attention for an event that, apart from celebration, becomes a tribute. We are talking about the Festival del Caribe, the festival of roots and identity.

With its origin in Santiago de Cuba, the city considered the capital of the Caribbean, the July Festival is also a cult to African and indigenous roots that tinge a good part of the culture of American countries. From the orishas of the Yoruba pantheon of Cuba and other regions, passing through subjects linked with history, and up to reflections about the economic sphere, the Festival covers a mixture able to gather together all the complexity of identity of this area of the world. During this period, Santiago de Cuba seethes and succeeds in shaking the present with remembrances of our genesis, with tribute and jubilation.

It was in 1981 when the idea came to fruition: the creation of a Theatre festival that would revitalize the inheritance left in this land by Haitians, Jamaicans, French or Spaniards. It was in the second of its official announcements when it was the venue for other artistic expressions, and in 1983 when it inaugurated its international character. Since then, it has promoted regional culture and strengthened the bonds of friendship with various Caribbean countries.

Nowadays it is an artistic, academic and community spaces event. Celebrated every year and always in the first week of July, it is backed by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, the Ministry of Culture and the Casa del Caribe, the sponsoring institution par excellence of the festival.

The Caribbean that unites us, an international colloquium provided within the context of the event, makes inquiries into the questions related with all artistic manifestations of the Caribbean territory: religion, patrimony, identity, history, economy and society. By the same token the merrymaking adheres to the academic conferences, panels and workshops covering broad expectations.

This year the 29th edition of the event will be held from July 3rd to 9th and dedicated to Honduras, the first Central American country as the guest of honor. In a closer relationship that goes beyond the folkloric, the celebration proposes a dynamic and multitudinous meeting that takes over plazas, parks and communities.

During this round, artists, professors and groups will delight spectators and listeners taking as the fundamental raw material their traditions and thought and, moreover, endowing the city with that air of reaffirmation in whose atmosphere everything is imbued with the Caribbean.

In a kind of study and disclosure that contributes to the knowledge and recognition of all the components that identify what is American and Caribbean, the Fiesta del Fuego inserts itself as an experience-generating event, out of respect towards the diverse in tribute to continental wisdom. The Colloquium, this time, will debate subject matters associated with the history and culture of the region’s peoples, giving emphasis to proposals of regional integration, processes of unification in the contemporary world, artistic creation and the construction of identity.

With almost 30 years of contributing to culture, it is an event that displays the most authentic Caribbean panorama without spurning the roots which gave them origin. It is one of the Cuban celebrations of deepest importance and popular meaning.

More than 50 locations will play central roles for the events of this Caribbean meeting, 32 of which are open natural stages, worthy of a much more ample interaction with the public.

The offers this year will be distinguished by the presence of the Ballet Folclórico Garífuna of Honduras, one of the most renowned artistic groups of that country and whose members are considered cultural ambassadors. Likewise the delegation of the invited country exceeds one hundred people between artists, researchers and other personalities. This meeting also serves to strengthen solidarity between countries in the area, from where one thousand people from over twenty nations have confirmed their participation.

Source: CubaNow