Travelling To Cuba for Some Festival Fun
One thing Cuban’s are known for is their infectious joie de vivre, which has managed to weather war, austerity, rationing and other forms of hardship. Even through the darkest periods of Cuba’s past, the party always went on and the festivals did not stop. Perhaps it’s because in Cuba, the people know how to live. When planning your vacation to Cuba, it would be wise to schedule it in coordination with the festivals that take place all round the year. Below is a look at some of the popular Top Cuban festivals you should not miss out on.
Fiesta de la Toronja
In March, Isla de la Juventud, famous for its citrus plantations, celebrates the annual grapefruit harvest. The party takes place in Nueva Gerona where the guachi – grapefruit schnapps is in abundance.
Festival Internacional de Cine Pobre
Inaugurated in 2003, the Cine Pobre is a film festival that takes place in April at Seaside Gibara. For an entire week poor film makers get to see good low-budget movies. Here you will find some of Latin America’s cash-strapped but talented film makers. The festival was the brainchild of late Cuban director Humberto Solás.
Día de los Trabajadores
Each year on Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of Cubans converge on Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución for a show of military parades and listen to Labor Day speeches. It’s a fantastic spectacle with all the flags waving in the air.
Jornada Cucalambeana
In late June, Cuba celebrates country music and its witty 10-line décimas (stanzas) at Motel Cornito, about 3km outside Las Tunas, which is the former home of country-music king Juan Fajardo ‘El Cucalambé.’
Carnaval de Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is Cuba’s colorful carnival which is considered its most ‘Caribbean’ festival. It takes place every last week of July, and has open-air grandstands erected along Av Garzón, as well as dancers, floats, rum and rumba.
Festival Internacionale ‘Habana Hip-Hop’
Each August, the Asociación Hermanos Saíz – a youth arm of Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (Uneac; Union of Cuban Writers and Artists) – organizes the annual Havana Hip-Hop Festival. Here, Cuba’s young musical performers meet to improvise and swap ideas.
Fiestas de los Bandas Rojo y Azul
This festival is considered one of the most important manifestations of Cuban campesino – country person, culture. It is held Ciego de Ávila settlement of Majagua and involves the splitting up of the town into two teams – red and blue, which compete against each other in dancing and music contests.
Festival Internacional de Jazz
Intrinsically linked to Cuban jazz maestro, Chucho Valdés, the Festival Internacional de Jazz takes place every November in Havana’s Karl Marx, Mella and Amadeo Roldán theaters. The fiesta draws in top musical personalities from all over the world to perform in spectacular concerts.
Las Parrandas
Every Christmas Eve, Remedios is transformed from its all-year-round colonial backwater atmosphere, into one full of energy, passion, spirit, floats, fireworks and costumes as the locals parade around in Las Parrandas.