The holiday re-emerges slowly after years of official atheism
By Mary Murray. NBC NEWS. MSNBC
HAVANA, Cuba, Dec. 21 — Christmas in Cuba remains a simple
affair of the heart. No bright lights, piles of fancy wrapped gifts or
street-corner Santas. Just families gathered together to share simple meals,
attend religious services and enjoy a well-deserved day off from work.
THE HOLIDAY is still a novel concept for many here. The nation,
transformed into a Communist state under Fidel Castro after the 1959 revolution,
officially declared itself atheist several years later. And in 1969, Christmas
celebration was banned because, the Cuban president said, it interfered with the
sugar harvest.
But the holiday started to make a hesitant comeback in the early
1990s, when the government began lifting restrictions on religious worship. And
in 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, he reminded Cubans that Christmas
represents an important part of the nation’s "religious and cultural
patrimony" in the previously Catholic country. In a gesture to the Pope,
Castro reversed his ban on Christmas.
As in many countries across the globe, island church bells toll at
Sunday night midnight mass when the statue of the Christ child is placed in the
manger. Earlier in the evening, children in Cuba’s 670 Catholic churches
walk in "posadas" — Christmas processions traditional throughout
Latin America, but for many years neglected in largely atheist Cuba. The
children march around the church in biblical costume and sing religious songs,
before re-enacting the birth of Christ in
The entire Christmas weekend, children fill parishes like Santa
Rita, a Roman Catholic Church in Havana’s Miramar neighborhood. Some of the
children are there to attend catechism class as they do year-round. Others live
in the neighborhood and know that on Sunday night a man dressed in a funny red
suit and wearing a beard made from cotton bought at the local "farmacia"
will hand out modest presents of coloring pencils and candy to all the children
gathered in the church.
To many children, the holiday is still alien. Nanci, an 8th grader
visiting St. Rita’s is unable to recite the Christmas story. Her father, an
officer in the Cuban army, frowns on the gifts.
"We welcome all children, especially on Christmas" said
Nathan Alonso, a parishioner of St. Rita’s. "This is how we spread God’s
word."
Clearly, there is still some official ambivalence toward the
Christmas festivities.
Churches erect the nativity scenes inside their vestibules and hidden
from public view. A number of parish priests told NBC News that religious
statues are considered a form of advertising, which is strictly legislated by
the Cuban Council of State.
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