The holiday season is less of an affair in Cuba than elsewhere: only in 1990 did the regime remove references to atheism from its constitution, and it was not until 1998—after Pope John Paul II visited the island and met with Fidel—that December 25 was restored as a national holiday.
Still, New Year’s Eve (tonight) tends to be the focus of most holiday enthusiasm in Cuba. On January 1, the “Triumph of the Revolution” is celebrated—a commemoration of the day that Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army proclaimed victory over Fulgencio Batista in 1959 as Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic. In the years since, when Christmas as a holiday was diminished, New Year’s Eve often became the replacement date for holiday celebrations. Families continue to get together on this night to share what had been the traditional “Nochebuena” meal of roast pork and perhaps black beans and flan. This year, due to looser travel restrictions, relatives living in the United States have been arriving in Havana to spend this evening with family.
Happy New Year to all. Here’s to peace, tolerance and understanding in 2010.
