Lauren Luis Acosta
Culture is history, costumes and traditions, beliefs, symbols, behaviours, and values that define a group of people.
While poets and intellectuals might describe it with elaborate words and cryptic messages, for the common eye, culture is identity, heritage, it’s being part of something, it’s being recognised because you belong to a certain group of people.
It is true that each culture brings together in itself other cultures that mix as part of the shaping process, but the result is something unique.
The shaping process of Cuban culture is not the result of what we generally know has occurred within the linear transit model: gens – tribe –people – nation.
As Fernando Ortiz, outstanding Cuban anthropologist, has defined, Cuban culture is an ajiaco, where roots merged and forged the foundations of the nation, but mostly three: the root of the indigenous settlers, whose ethnic heritage was reduced by the effects of the Spanish conquest and colonisation process; and the Spanish and African roots.
Furthermore, we find the ethnic influence of the Chinese, who also left their mark, especially on Cuban cuisine. In the current definition of Cuban culture, all these roots form the basis of traditions, culture and popular religiosity.
Cinema, for instance, is a key piece in the history of Cuba. It has established its undeniable contribution to the Latin American and universal cultural legacy.
The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year, movies like Memories of Underdevelopment, Lucía, and filmmakers such as Santiago Álvarez and Juan Padrón, are indispensable references of the national cinematography.
Cuban literature is also at the heart of our culture. Among the outstanding examples we can mention Cecilia Valdés by Cirilo Villaverde, considered the first Cuban novel, and La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) by José Martí.
It was in the 19th century that theatre on the island was defined with its own Cuban characteristics. Over the years, numerous creators of the art have developed it in the country, from actors and directors to playwrights such as Carlos Felipe, Virgilio Piñera, Abelardo Estorino, and many others.
It is evident that Africa is strongly rooted in the island. The African influence can be seen in all the manifestations of our culture: visual arts, music, dance, literature, musical instruments, the Spanish we speak, food, religiosity, in short, in the way of being Cuban, and that has a historical explanation.
Slaves were forbidden to practise their own religion when they got to Cuba and were forced to revere Catholic saints, so they began to name these saints as their own idols. For example Saint Barbara is also known as Changó, the Virgin of Charity is called Ochún.
All this mysticism found its space within artistic manifestations.
Cuban art covers the different stages of the evolution of Afro-Cuban beliefs. There was a strong Catholicism imposed in colonial times that confronted the syncretism of African religions, especially the Yoruba.
This process left a mark on the development of Cuban nationality, and a peculiar popular religiosity was sealed, full of beliefs and superstitions that easily adapted to the needs of the believer.
This spirit was reflected in Vanguardism with the pioneering works of Eduardo Abela, Carlos Enríquez and Wifredo Lam, and that line of work continued to develop throughout the 20th century.
Today, it is still a faithful expression of the fusion that characterises the Cuban people.
Afro-Cuban music has its roots clearly defined, as it happened in the plastic arts, in the rhythms of the slaves. Although they came from different ethnic groups, without a doubt those who contributed the most to Cuban culture, specifically to music, were the Yorubas, with their religion and system of batá dances and drums.
Part of the authenticity of a nation lies in the culture it treasures. Cuba is a worthy example of the variety of essences, traditions and beliefs that shaped what we have today, and that have proudly nuanced the sound, dances, rhythms and colour of this island made up of the blood of the indigenous people, black Africans, Europeans, Chinese and other ethnicities; to form the unique Cuban man and woman.
* Acosta is the Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Cuba in South Africa
Cape Times