INTRODUCTION

The Caribbean Festival is a genuine cultural celebration which enhances the most authentic roots of the spirituality of the Cuban and Caribbean peoples. The first festival was held on April, 1981, and it was named First Festival of Performing Arts of Caribbean Origin.

From its beginnings, the festival has been attended by many important personalities from different Anglophone, Francophone and Spanish speaking Caribbean countries, among those important intellectuals are Luis Suardíaz (Cuba), Argeliers León (Cuba), George Lamming (famous Barbadian writer), Eraclio Zepeda (Poet y narrator), Juan Bosh (Dominican Republic), Rafael Murillo (Honduras), Thiago de Mello (Brazilian poet), Guillermo Orozco (Cuba), Marta Jean Claude (Port ax Prince, Haití), Miguel Barnet (Cuba), Fernández Retamar (Cuba), Víctor Villegas (Dominican Republic), Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), Barry Chevannes and Rex Nettleford (Jamaica), Doudou Diéne (Senegalese sociologist) and Geraldine Chaplin (California).

The principle of this Festival has always been the acknowledgement of the deep similarities among the popular cultural expressions and traditions of Caribbean peoples, and the respect for popular creations, stressing always the worth of common men and women as the legitimate owners of the heritage they have created.

Intellectuals, academicians, researchers and artistic groups, representing mixed race popular cultures of the region, gather together during the festival in more than 50 different sites of the city. Their theoretical and academic debates spread beyond the conventional halls and reach the streets and squares of the city.

The festival is dedicated each year to a country or group of countries of the region. The main theoretical conference is named The Caribbean that Unites Us (El Caribe que Nos Une), and simultaneously workshops on poetry, orality, popular theater, dance and religiousness are carried out. Besides, other activities are conducted such us showing of movies and stage shows, performed in theaters and outdoors.

The Feast of Fire, as this festival is also known, has contributed to the international promotion of the diverse aspects of the culture of Santiago de Cuba. This culture has been unmistakably marked by the African peoples and their Cuban descendants and by people from other areas of the Antilles. Some of them were brought to the island as slaves and other emigrated to the city and its surrounding areas at different times and for different reasons. Besides, this Festival has shown the peculiarities of each particular culture, and taking that as a starting point, it has emphasized on the Caribbean characteristics of each nation, regardless their geographic location. It has also become a space to continue the regional identity forming process in the current conditions of a globalized world.

This Festival is celebrated every year thanks to the work of the popular and traditional cultural groups, which have a leading role in its organization. Many groups participated in its creation: Barrancas y La Caridad (Palma Soriano); Petit Dancé (Las Tunas); Locosiá (Guantánamo); Caidije (Camaguey); La Cinta (Ciego de Ávila), the conga de Los Hoyos and others from the professional artistic sector of Santiago de Cuba.

Main activities developed in the Caribbean Festival

• The CaribbeanThat Unites Us (El Caribe que Nos Une) International Colloquium. Analysis of and debate on topics related to the history and culture of Caribbean peoples.

• Granting of the Casa del Caribe International Award. Acknowledgement to the work carried out by national and foreign personalities and institutions that have stood out in fostering, developing and researching the traditional and popular culture.

• Granting of the José Maria Heredia plaque. It is granted to outstanding national and foreign personalities that have made important contributions to the Cuban, Latin American and Caribbean cultural work and have also promoted and spread it all over the world.

• Meeting of the Minister of Culture with intellectuals, artists and a representation of participating groups. Debates and exchanges are conducted in a cordial and warm environment.

• The Caribbean Festival Hall. Collective exhibition by visual artists at the Oriente Art Gallery.

• International Press Room. A place where press conferences by Cuban and foreign important cultural figures invited to the Festival are organized.

• Launching of the From the Caribbean (Del Caribe) magazine. A publication of the Casa del Caribe.

• Homenaje al Cimarron. A show held in El Cobre village to pay homage to slave rebelliousness.

• The Serpent Parade (Desfile de la Serpiente). Opening ceremony of the Festival attended by national and foreign groups. A parade that starts at Plaza de Marte and ends at Cespedes Park. The ceremony begins with an invocation to Eleguá and Obatalá.

• Sun, Sea and Caribbean Folklore Concert. A show where all different expressions of the Cuban Popular and Traditional Culture are preformed. (Haitian-Cuban and Jamaican folklore, music groups of Congo origin, son, rumba and the conga typical of Eastern Cuba).

• Caribbean Gala. Music and dance Caribbean groups participate in this gala.

• Cuban Gala. Cuban and foreign music and dance groups participate in this gala.

• Mexican Gala.

• The Fire Parade (Desfile del fuego). It begins with a Congo ritual invoking Nzambi, a supreme deity of Palo Monte religion. Later, the Mpaka (emblem of the Fiesta del Fuego) is handed to the country to which the next Festival will be dedicated.

• The Drums Hurricane (Huracan de Tambores) and the Burning of the Devil (Quema del Diablo). Great encounter of all participating groups in the Jesús Menéndez tree-lined avenue: farewell to all guests and participant groups. A huge figure made of straw, representing the Devil, is set on fire by the sea in order to clear the way for the next Festival.

CHRONOLOGY OF CARIBBEAN FESTIVALS

1981- Performing arts of Caribbean Origin

1982- Culture of Caribbean Origin

1983- Culture of Caribbean Origin (First International Festival)

1984- In memory of Maurice Bishop and his country, Grenada

1985- Dedicated to the Haitian people

1986- Dedicated to the 33^rd Anniversary of the Attack to the Moncada Barracks and the Centenary of the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba

1987- Dedicated to the people of Guyana

1988- Dedicated to the Brazilian Culture

1989- Dedicated to the people of Puerto Rico

1990- Dedicated to the Cuban People

!991- Dedicated to the Dominican Republic

1992- Dedicated to Venezuela

1993- Dedicated to the Mexican people

1994- Dedicated to the French-speaking Caribbean countries

1995- Dedicated to the English-speaking Caribbean countries

1996- Dedicated to Colombia

1997- Dedicated to Brazil

1998- Dedicated to the Hispanic Heritage

1999- Dedicated to the Caribbean Diaspora

2000- Dedicated to Africa

2001- Dedicated to Panama

2002- Dedicated to the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Suriname

2003- Dedicated to Jose Marti and the Balance of the World

2004- Dedicated to the Bicentenary of the Independence of Haiti

2005- Dedicated to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

2006- Dedicated to CARICOM

2007- Dedicated to the Popular Dominican Culture

2008- Dedicated to the Mexican Caribbean

2009- Dedicated to Honduras

2010- Dedicated to Brazilian State of Pernambuco and the Island of Curacao

2011- Dedicated to Trinidad and Tobago

2012- Dedicated to Martinique.

2013 Dedicate to the Colombian Caribbean

Festivals have been attended by foreign delegations made up by large number participants including artists and intellectuals. The presence of people from places as distant as Denmark, Japan, Australia, Hungary, Holland and Israel has been remarkable. The average number of artists participating in the Festival has been about 1,200 from Cuba and 600 from other Caribbean countries. It is important to notice that, for instance, during the 27^th Festival held from July 3^rd to 9^th, 2007 and dedicated to the Popular Dominican Culture, the number of foreign participants totaled 1,082 including writers, artists and religious groups and tourists from 25 countries. It is an example of the major impact this Festival has had on the world.

More recently, during the 30^th Fiesta del Fuego, held on July 2010 and dedicated to the Brazilian state of Pernambuco and the Island of Curacao, a new record was set in the number of foreign participants due to the attendance of more than 1,395 foreign artists from 18 countries. From July 3^rd to 9^th, 2010 Santiago de Cuba became the World Capital of Popular and Traditional Culture.