Day 9, February 20, 2020: Floating Virgin, Holy Baseballs, Grupo Bayate, Rockin' Fidel, Compay Gallo

Santiago > El Cobre > Palma Soriano > Mella > Palma Soriano > San Luis > Santiago

Today we completed a clockwise loop, from Santiago west to El Cobre, then north to Mella, then back south and east through San Luis and into Santiago.

El Cobre (circled in "copper" orange on the map) sits below the Sierra Maestra, near the Cobre River, about 20 miles west of Santiago. Cobre means "copper" in Spanish, and references the long history of copper mining adjacent to the village. There is a peculiarity about El Cobre's history. In the early 1800's the village was mostly populated by Indians, free and/or escaped blacks, and enslaved blacks (a small percentage, actually owned by free blacks), working in the mine. The mine was property of the Spanish King. It has been worked since the 1530's, intermittently with some long lapses, up until the year 2000 or so.

El Cobre is famous for the Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre. The church was built in 1926. La Virgen de la Caridad, housed within, is a pilgrim's destination, the most popular religious journey in Cuba, and many Cubans view the church as the island's holiest place. Why exactly in this location? That story down the page. We were privileged to witness the reverence with which the people come to the church and to the Virgin, in this officially communist and agnostic country.

New mothers, in particular, bring their children here, as soon as feasible after birth, and offer a gift to the Virgin (normally flowers), thanking Her for a safe birth and asking for continual blessings and good health for the infant. Our guide, Viviana, did exactly this when her son was born, traveling all the way from her home in La Habana.

The basilica atop the hill above the town, known as Cerro de la Cantera (quarry), the visual focus entering town.

Roadside vendors mostly sell fresh flowers, but also icons and other objects of religious devotion to inbound visitors.

Our group purchases flowers to offer to La Virgen. L > R, Peggy, Juan Ramón, Gabriel, Maria, Margo.

There are many steps. Gay (L) and Kevin.

Stuart (L).

People were starting to gather for Mass. The Virgin is high center.

Viviana places her offering.

So who is this La Virgen, that is, which manifestation of The Virgin is She, and how exactly did She get to this small village? The story goes like this (and it's been good enough to merit approval by several Popes, including the current one). In the early 1600's three young boys, two indigenes and one a slave, were fishing in Nipe Bay (in one telling; in another version they were "collecting salt"). On the map at the top, Nipe Bay is north of the town of Mayarí, on the north coast. Caught in a storm, the boys were struggling to get to shore and safety, and praying mightily. The storm passed. One spotted something floating in the water, which they retrieved. It was a statue of a fully clothed Virgin, holding the baby Jesus in one arm and a gold cross in the other hand. She was attached to a board inscribed "Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad." This they brought to land, told the story to a local alcalde, and he ordered construction of a shrine.

At this point, the Cuban story begins to blend with similar myths perpetuated around the Catholic world. The same story is told of restless statues of Mary, Baby Jesus, or both, which disappear only to reappear or to be found later elsewhere. We have encountered this same story in Chimayó, New Mexico; Madrid, Spain; and central Mexico, although sometimes it's the Santo Niño who goes out and about, with the Virgin staying behind empty-armed. In this case The Virgin soon absconded from the little church in Barajagua, where She'd been abiding, for several nights in a row being absent from the altar in the evening, but then back on the pedestal in the morning. It's intriguing that the person reporting these absences was the same kid who fished Her out of the Caribbean. The people of Barajagua concluded that She desired to be elsewhere, so She was taken to the church of the time in El Cobre. Once there, She was apparently still unsettled, disappearing in the evening and back in place in the morning. One day a young girl playing on top of the hill above town found the statue lying there. So a church was built there for Her, and She has stayed in place ever since.

She is about 3 feet tall. The gown is quite detailed. The yellow robe reflects that there has been some blending with the Santería religion, wherein yellow represents one of the Yoruban (African) female gods.

Many myths and legends have evolved around Her. She is known throughout Cuba as "La Cachita."

A humorous aside: one travel source claims that the statue is revolvable by a button in the sacristy. The priest can turn Her to face different parts of the congregation. The writer describes it as "a little creepy."

One of the Virgin's special properties is to heal. We've seen other displays like this elsewhere. A famous one is in the side chapel of the Santuario de Chimayó, NM.

Believers or no, Cubans go to El Cobre in pilgrimage, to offer gifts to La Virgen. The book at left is a gift from Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, THE Fidel's oldest son and a scientist, recently deceased. 

This is the doctoral degree in sciences awarded by the University of Paris to Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov. He is THE Fidel's grandson. His father, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, THE Fidel's son, met his mother surnamed Smirnov while studying in Russia. (Irony alert: Mario Díaz-Balart, US Representative from Dade County, FL, conservative Republican who votes with Donald Trump 97% of the time, is THE Fidel Castro's nephew).

A display with gifts from musicians and film-makers.

 Holy Béisbols, Batman! 

There is one gift to the Virgin, not on display: the Nobel Medal awarded to Ernest Hemingway and presented by him to the church. Once before stolen and found, it is now kept under lock out of view.

The church looms over the city. Gay M (L) and MJH.

This is placed strategically, to be read as one leaves the basilica and "re-enters the world."

The US embargo against Cuba is never completely out of mind. "The longest genocide in history."

Here comes Juan Ramón with the bus. ¡Vamos para Mella!

Between El Cobre and Mella, once the foothills of the Sierra Maestra are behind, the road passes through sugar cane fields which reach to the horizons, separated by scattered motts of trees and criss-crossed by acequias. There is a large appealing lake, contiguous with the Cauto River, completely devoid of boat docks, motorboats, and houses.

Mella is not an old town. The area around Mella is slightly rolling to flat and ideal for sugar cane, situated as it is in the valley of the Río Cauto, the longest river in Cuba. Around 1905 a colony of Swedes from Minnesota, led by Alfred Lind, settled here and constructed a sugar plantation and mill. In the early period there were the smaller communities of Bayate, Miranda, and others. Altogether, the town which has developed around the sugar mill today is called Mella, after Julio Antonio Mella, a Cuban-Irish organizer and communist of the early 20th century. The population is around 35,000 people.

The sugar mill of Mella.

The Minnesota Swede impulse behind Mella. Vintage photos in the house of José Rodriguez Ricardo.

Alfred Lind as founder/benefactor of Mella.

On the outskirts of Mella, across from the sugar mill, is the children's art studio, Taller Alegría de Vivir ("Joy of Living,") where we met with Luís Rodriguez Ricardo "El Estudiante" and other artists who teach the children. After a brief sharing about the studio by the director, we gave over some simple but critical art supplies brought along from the US. These are often hard to come by in Cuba and are always received gratefully. Much children's art is on display. They have periodic exhibitions, and an annual festival.

The director, left, describing what they do here. Viviana Rives to the right. The others are artists of Grupo Bayate and instructors for the workshop, including "El Estudiante" next to Viviana.

To the reader: OK, a lot of pictures, but LOOK at the riot of color, ingenuity, and talent! The artists are from 6 to 16 years old.

Detail below.

Detail and artist ID for the one above. 

6-year old artist.

8 year-old artist.

The oldest artist, at 16 years.

Next stop: Mella centro, where just off the main drag El Grupo Bayate had set up an outdoor/indoor show. Grupo Bayate has operated since the 1990's. It is a cooperative of local and regional artists who are practitioners of so-called "arte naíf." By definition, all are self-taught. They did not do formal university training, as many other Cuban artists have done. Self-taught, and learning from each other and from maestro Luís Rodriguez Arias. They are regular participants at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. The obvious love and respect between all these artists and the Peggy-Stuart duo is a delight to see. In Cuba, artists who show internationally tend to give back much to their communities. We witnessed this in Havana 6 years ago, and we saw it in Mella on this day. El Grupo Bayate has been recognized by IFAM with the "Community Impact Award." Here is the presentation of that award:





Video of the presentation: https://youtu.be/7-FEwBdj9BY

These are the artists of El Grupo Bayate who were there for us on this day. With Peggy and Stuart.

MJ closing the deal.

Dave closing the deal.

The "Proyecto Bayate: Ruta Para Una Historia" began in 2007. In the mission statement, the project aims to link children, adolescents and adults with the historic culture of naive art in Cuba, and to promote and preserve that art. They have been internationally recognized, both for the quality and character of the art and for the humanitarian sharing of earnings. They have a wonderful Facebook page, which we are linking here: https://www.facebook.com/bayaterutaparaunahistoria/

While we're at it, we didn't see this painting but Dave insists on snagging it and posting it here for sheer fun. It's from one of the pages for Proyecto Bayate:

(Credit Facebook "Bayate Ruta de la Historia")
https://www.facebook.com/bayate.rutaparaunahistoria.96/

MJ and I were laggards getting to lunch. This artist from Moa was quite the salesman, and haggler. MJ was almost his match. She's carrying the one we purchased.

As a group we strolled a few blocks to the house of Luís Rodriguez Ricardo, where his wife, mother, neighbor, and children had cobbled together a generous and delicious patio lunch. We soaked in the local scenery of Mella on the way.











Before we departed, Peggy shared gifts and amor with the Arias-Ricardo family: https://youtu.be/EhR8S-Em5G4

The route back to Santiago was a retracing, until Palma Soriano. There we swung east onto a highway which is nominally a 4-lane freeway with shoulders and a central median. But in reality, often there were two paved inner lanes and an unpaved right lane along which scuttled horse-drawn wagons and old trucks going 5-10 mph. These occasionally veer onto the paved section. An attentive driver is a must. Many potholes and rough spots must be negotiated. A police checkpoint necessitated a brief stop. Sometimes patience is needed; Cuba is still a country accepting of multiple modes of transportation.

Intermittent slow progress not withstanding, the countryside is beautiful - pristine streams to cross, the reservoir near Mella. Viviana offset any insignificant tedium with engaging talks about the current status of religion in Cuba, and the manner in which salaries/wages has been restructured in Cuba under Raúl’s successor as President, Miguel Díaz-Canel.

A mere 1.5 hours and we were back in Santiago, circling the Plaza de la Revolución with its gigantic statue of Antonio Maceo protected by machetes. The barricade of machetes symbolizes the indispensable role taken on by sugar cane workers in the earliest revolt against Spain - the machete being the only weapon many Cubanos had immediately at hand.





The Cementerio de Santa Ifigenia is a huge public space. Lots of the illustrious of Cuban history are buried here. Still, any Cuban wishing final rest here may have it. Here are some:

José Martí (d. 1895) - national hero
Fidel Castro (d. 2016) - Cuban president and revolutionary leader
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Dominga Moncada, General Guillermón Moncada’s mother
Emilio Bacardi - son of the founder of Bacardi fortune Facundo Bacardi
Frank País (d. 1957) - Cuban revolutionary
María Cabrales, Antonio Maceo’s wife
Mariana Grajales, Antonio Maceos’ mother

We came in late afternoon, in time to see the Changing of the Guard, a ceremony which is repeated every 30 minutes. No moving or talking by visitors is allowed for the duration. The guard is assigned to the tomb of José Martí, and to other strategic points. All very martial.

The tomb of José Marti. The design insures that his remains are bathed by fresh air and ambient light.

Each of the six pillars has a symbolic bás-relief.

The open ceiling.

José Martí's remains in the guarded chamber.

The changing of the guard, at the entry to Martí's tomb. Two will stay, the others depart.

With perfect timing, they'll merge with the other file further out.

The Changing of the Guard, live in Todd-AO and Technicolor: https://youtu.be/nZjXuniUDks


THE TOMB OF FIDEL CASTRO:

Late in life Fidel clarified his wishes: cremation, a simple inurnment of his cenizas (ashes) in a rock brought from a spot close to his boyhood home in the mountains. He specified a simple engraving of the name Fidel without further adornment. He forbade any statues. His tomb is dwarfed by the tomb of José Martí, the true Cuban national hero.

The tomb of Fidel Castro, minimalist compared to that of Martí.

Unsmiling and intolerant of any disrespectful comportment.

Pantheon of those fallen for Internationalism, and for the Revolution.

Tomb of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

Tomb of Mariana Grajales, mother of Antonio Maceo.

There are various pantheons for those fallen in 26 July 1953 at Moncada, and for those who died in the Revolution, including some international participants.

We exited the cemetery through a smaller side gate. Evoking a gothic scene rendered perhaps from Charles Dickens, a team of laborers entered that same gate, passing by us: gravediggers, three men walking purposefully and carrying a pick, a shovel, and a machete. From dust we came, and to dust we shall return.

We nightcapped the day (it's our blog, we'll mix metaphors with impunity) having dinner and formal, final night in Cuba farewell at Compay Gallo, one of Santiago’s great restaurants. The Magic Sax Quartet serenaded our entry and followed us up the steps to a second story open terrazza.

Formal goodbye and gifts. L > R, Viviana, Peggy, Juan Ramón, Stuart, Yudi, Queta, and nose/beard of David K.

Feel the love!

Magic Sax Quartet in the entryway of Compay Gallo.

Apparently, "this business is protected. Spare your (gun?)powder, buy food.

Reader: enjoy the Magic Sax Quartet, live, as we did. The fourth song, especially, is CUBA LIBRE Y VIVA.

https://youtu.be/6kzSHIWH-TI
https://youtu.be/oGJ2d21huKI
https://youtu.be/TfFAE3NeqiA
https://youtu.be/QY77FYxCOI4

And, to put the day to bed:

Ñico Saquito sings "Cuidadito Compay Gallo." Born in Santiago in 1902 as Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz.

https://youtu.be/DqtvD07bsfU