Why Was Christmas Banned In Cuba
Here in cuba these celebrations were banned for a long time but they gained new life in the 90s i remember going to the midnight mass with a friend and i loved it.
Why was christmas banned in cuba. Now christmas is a new glorious. How christmas was banned in cuba december 25 2013 juan almeida. In advance of pope john paul ii visiting fidel decided that cuba would have christmas for one year only. An entire generation of people were born without ever knowing or celebrating christmas.
After dinner the catholic population almost the entire island attended misa de. Families gathered and shared a special cena de navidad at 9 00 pm. Christmas or nochebuena in cuba used to be a big celebration also tied to the roman catholic influence of spain in the island. Cuba s religious designation changed from atheist to secular after the fall of the soviet union in 1991 and castro allowed catholics to re join the.
The communist party dropped its ban on believers in its ranks. Christmas in cuba prior to fidel castro s dictatorship. And cuba has celebrated christmas ever since. Christmas was banned in cuba until 1997.
The breakthrough came in 1998 when pope john paul visited cuba leading to the lifting of more restrictions and the reinstatement of. Wags may wonder though whether the same lights would be allowed on a government outpost here in america where at the behest of the. Fidel castro s regime in cuba actually banned christmas from 1969 to 1997 so it s somewhat in character for the havana government to want the american interests section there to take down its christmas lights. After nearly 30 years of prohibition cumbersome christmas emerges as a new opportunity.
Yet the christian holiday survived another nine years as a paid day off mostly for secular reasons although many families discretely celebrated it during the 28 years it was banned. Havana cuba dec 4 2012 12 07 pm mt local catholics say that the reinstatement of christmas as a national holiday in 1997 after decades of being outlawed has brought enormous good to. China also goes to work on christmas day but is moving further from the maoist days when christmas was banned.