On 20 October Cuba celebrates its National Day for Cuban Culture. A broad programme of over 230 activities has been taking place throughout the country up to now. ‘With the same star’ is the theme of the celebrations, which include concerts, record presentations, workshops, group exhibitions of visual artists, and tours of artistic brigades to remote rural communities, and lots more.
The first time that ‘La Bayamesa’ was sung, today the National Anthem of Cuba, was 20 October 1868, and in 1980 Cuba introduced an annual National Day of Culture on that date. This month also marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the wars of independence (10 October 1868) so this year Culture Day will also remember that founding moment of the nation, as well as some other important anniversaries.
The celebrations will be joined by tributes to the National Ballet of Cuba, on the 70th anniversary of its foundation; 90 years after the birth of Ernesto Che Guevara; 40 years since the creation of the Casas de Cultura system (national network of community Cultural centres), and the inclusion of the musical/song form ‘El Punto Cubano’ in the UNESCO list of ‘Intangible Heritage of Humanity’.
Among the activities this year, the Cuban Book Institute will present some new publications, including ‘Brief History of the National Anthem of Cuba’, written by the musicologist and researcher Jesús Gómez Cairo.
Other events are the 3rd Congress of the Hermanos Saíz Association (for young artists), the Fiesta de la Cultura Iberoamericana, and the 24th Fiesta de la Cubanía, which will take place in Bayamo, Granma.
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