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Festivals in the caribbean
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What Cuba Celebrates When we think about Cuba people imagine poverty, hostages, and undeveloped societies. Of course Cuba has its cons, when we think about the government, but is Cuba really that bad? I think people have been influenced by the only thing the media shows, the negative things in Cuba! Cuba and the US have had no ties for over 50 years and that’s in part because, “By 1960, Castro 's government had seized private land, nationalized hundreds of private companies. Including several local subsidiaries of U.S. corporations, and taxed American products so heavily that U.S. exports were halved in just “The origins of the Santiago Carnival go back to the end of the seventeenth century when processions would wind their way through the city streets celebrating the feast day of Santiago, the Patron Saint of the city.” Cuba Absolutely. “Carnival de Santiago de Cuba.” July 21-29, 2014. The Spanish would celebrate ST. James in their own way and then allowed the African slaves to celebrate it, they added their music and dances to the tradition. People then began seeing this tradition as a way to celebrate “el pueblo.” This mixed is was created how carnivals are celebrated in modern Cuba today. The Carnival dates were extended to celebrate other saints during the months of June, July and August and of course to party more. Different cities around Cuba chose what days they will celebrate it, they usually last a week long. Carnivals are full of life, lights and music. People spend the whole year preparing for this day. Dancers have to practice their choreographies, and groups of people have to prepare for the parade, they prepare for the order in which the Carnival goes and the people participating. The carnival starts with children parades, that time is dedicated to all the children. Following that are the walks, people walk and dance to the rhythm of the music and drums. They also do a commemoration to the Cuban heroes. Then the carousels start making their way in, it is very creative, making it perfect! They have different theme carousels with people dancing to the congas and the music. Street vendors also prepare for this celebration, which is a day of great compensation for them. Most of them sell “bocadito” which is sold a lot during carnival days, it is a ripped pork sandwich, and Cuban pizza which is homemade and it’s delicious! The party does not end when the carousel show is over, most kiosk, restaurants and bars are open for the after
One of the primary unifying forces of the Cuban community in South Florida is La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, or Our Lady of Charity. In 1898, after Cuba won its independence from Spain, she became the official patroness of the island. The Cuban soldiers credited their victory to the Virgin's intervention in their crusade for independence. The Virgin is seen as a religious tradition that strongly unites Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits. In South Florida, Cubans throughout the United States gather each year to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Charity on September the eighth. Alongside the traditional Catholic service, many within the exile congregation offer their hopes and prayers, to the Virgin, for a Cuba free from communism.
Block after block, people from all over are packed in Little Havana; they form a river of cultural unity. Unfortunately, the Calle Ocho festival of 1996 was cancelled due to the ill-fated shooting down of four Cuban exile aviators, from the Brothers to the Rescue organization, by Cuban warplanes on February 24, 1996. People who attended the festivals after that incident maintain, in their hearts, the memories of those pilots who gave their lives to help refugees in need.
I have been told of the conditions in the schools and their lack of proper facilities. These acquantenses tell me that Castro his controlling the boy’s father, monitoring his phone calls and making sure he tells everyone that he wants his boy to come home. They say he is not able to say what he really wants for fear of himself and family. For fear that Castro will take away the family’s food and shelter in Cuba. Over all, the general picture that has been painted is not pretty.
Wylie, Lana. Perceptions of Cuba: Canadian and American Policies in Comparative Perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010, 59-61 (accessed December 18, 2013).
Excitement was high for Cuba, when Fidel Castro overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in January 1959. With a heady mixture of nationalism and left - wing ideologies US became very cautious for its southern comrades Central and Southern America and perhaps herself. When Castro took over Cuba, the US lost valuable investments in the sugar and tobacco crops of Cuba.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
The nation of Cuba has been at odds with the United States since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. The United States embargo and sanction on Cuba stems from the fact that the United States will not tolerate Communist governments and "the most important objective of the Cuban government is to remain in power at all costs," says Felix Martin, a professor at Florida’s Cuban Research Institute. The conflict and reason for why the embargo has stayed intact over the years can be summarized in three major points of dissent: Human rights violations, Guantanamo Bay, and the Cuban exile community.
On this day, Cuba gained independence from Spain with the help from the United States and this marked the end of Spanish rule in Cuba. However, prior to the United States’ involvement, Cuba had many independence movements as a protest against the harsh and unfair treatment that it received from Spain. The Cuban army would use guerrilla and sabotage tactics, as a way of defending themselves. To strike back, the Spanish would create concentration camps to prevent future attacks from the Cubans. The US involvement began after the U.S. battleship, Maine, was sunk in an attempt to protect U.S. interests in Cuba. America then declared war on Spain and agreed to help Cuba with its independence as long as Cuba agreed that the US would intervene with foreign affairs in Cuba, along with being able to have a naval base in the Guantánamo Bay. They celebrate this holiday by having parades and by gathering with their family and friends. Also, tomato avocado salad, sweet desserts and flan churros are some of the many foods Cubans eat on this
The genesis of Carnival was attributed to the influx of French settlers who came with large numbers of slaves to Trinidad in the late eighteenth century. The island was later captured by the British and was made a crown colony of Great Britain. The Carnival celebrations was the most influential culture that was originally defined in culture if Trinidad; the celebration was practiced by two distinctly different social streams, the upper class and the lower class. Africans and persons of mixed race were forbidden by the law to participate in street festivities. Owing to this historical and situational progression of carnival, it can be deduced that class and colonization impacted on the development of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.
Today Cuba is a drastically suffering country. Cuba is in a terrible economic state. The average Cuban is barely able to afford even the bare minimum of living essentials. They are suffering from not having enough food and water which creates a large number of malnutrition people and a higher risk for diseases. What make matters worse is that the Cuban government cannot get the necessary medicines to treat these diseases (Kirkpatrick 1996). With less than 50 percent of the drugs on the market, Cubans do not have adequate health care and medicines. They are also denied access to technology necessary for them to become a more up to date and prosperous county. Some Cubans have not even seen their American families in years nor can they receive money as they please from their American families. This country is suffering extremely and it is starving for an economic improvement (Rampersad 2006).
The island of Trinidad is quite rich in culture and Trinidadians belong from variety of cultures gathered from around the world which provides this city to enjoy a whole gigantic lot of festival filling the calendar with red marks. To enjoy the real fun and witness the cultural diversity in Trinidad, one can attend Corpus Christi, Divali, Emancipation Day, Easter, Eid-ul-Fitr, Boxing Day, Christmas, Carnival, Independence Day, St Peter’s Day, We Beat Festival, Tobago Heritage Festival and a lot of other festivals celebrated with extreme spirit on huge scale.
...r the Brazilian people. Carnival is a national festival in Brazil, with some form of celebrations in most towns, but it's also a major opportunity to take a break from work and the festival itself. Every year the Brazilian people celebrate carnival and the festival held during the Friday to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter.
The preparation for this big event starts months in advance. Cofradias are the like the coordinators of the event. In English, Cofradias means brotherhood and they work together to plan and make sure the entire holiday is taken care of. They are also known as the “Heart of the Holy Week”. Confradias have to map out the route of the parade for every day of the week. The parts of the parade that are on main streets have bleachers on the sides for seating. However, these seats must be booked far in advance and are very costly. Cofradias also have to make sure that there are police and security so that the holiday is safe and peaceful. After the day’s parade ends, there are crews that come out and clean the streets. The Confradias are in charge of taking care of the Jesus and Virgin Mary throughout the year and that al...
Over time there have been many variations of the celebration of Carnival. The earliest celebration on the list is Grande Sociedades - Grand Societies - in 1855. This was an organized parade where 80 aristocrats, including the emperor, were decorated with masks, costumes, music, and flowers, and went throughout the city (History). The next major celebration noted was in 1870 and was called Cordão Carnavalesco. In this celebration everyone was a character, be it a witch, a queen, a peasant, a king, or a dancer, everyone acted as their character was portrayed (History).The latest celebration recorded before evolving into modern-day Carnival is Zé Pereira. Th...
Carnival today in the twin island state of Trinidad and Tobago have come a very long way since its segregated beginnings of higher and lower class .In fact it is now a time where every creed, race, colour and gender from all faiths and walk of life participate in together without judgement. Trinidad and Tobago has gained international recognition and thus the government of the twin island state now invest, time and some effort towards the Carnival season because of the revenue it generates for the country. However, with time, change is expected, the root of the festival is there but it has evolved with some of its basic heritage becoming obsolete.