Bells of Santa Ana Prelude of July 26th

Sancti Spíritus, July 25 (RHC) When the bells ring out today in Santiago de Cuba for the celebration of Santa Ana, this central province will be remembering the Day of the Absent Spiritual and the Day of the Guayabera, preambles to the national holiday of July 26.

It is an appropriate date to wear the native dress of the "espirituanos", the guayabera, symbol of Cuban citizenship and recognized as a national dress.

The Quinta de Santa Elena, whose completion dates back to 1858 as a family residence, in 2009 became the home of the Guayabera Cultural Project, the only museum of its kind in Cuba and the Americas.

A large collection is exhibited here, including those of Fidel and Raul Castro, Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez and cultural personalities such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Miguel Angel Asturias and Alicia Alonso.

Traditionally, people who were born on the banks of the Yayabo River and now live in other Cuban cities or in other countries come to the village.

The deep rootedness to this land always makes those who live far away come back and turn the date into days of meetings and festivities with relatives, friends and their own shared childhood environment.

Some historians place the election of the Day of the Absent Spirituano in the mid-twentieth century, although some press of the time relates it to the Santiago Espirituano - one of the oldest traditions of the island - in the nineteenth century, and gives it the connotation of an urban festival of meetings of acquaintances and return of the absent.

Within the framework of these activities, everything is prepared for the national act for the National Rebellion Day in the Plaza de la Revolución Mayor General Serafín Sánchez, beautifully decorated to receive thousands of people from Sancti Spíritus representing all Cuba.

The access from the east to the fourth Cuban village, which recently celebrated its 510th anniversary, was transformed into a beautiful traffic circle, with landscaping, Cuban and July 26 flags and in the distance the dictation: Sancti Spíritus.

Also on Thursday afternoon, an international solidarity meeting will be held with the participation of about 140 delegates from brigades and groups of friendship and support for the homeland of José Martí, which, according to the organizers, is an embrace of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.

According to the program, members of the European José Martí Brigade for Voluntary Work and Solidarity with Cuba and the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade from Puerto Rico will be present, as well as a delegation of Cuban-Americans from the José Martí Cultural Society, from the United States, an Afro-American solidarity group with the island, and foreign students who recently graduated from the University of Medical Sciences of Sancti Spiritus.

Prominent personalities will attend the meeting to offer their friendship, condemn the unjust economic and financial blockade imposed by the United States, and demand that U.S. President Joe Biden remove Cuba from the list of states that allegedly sponsor terrorism, support the Palestinian people and condemn the Zionist genocide in Gaza. On the evening of July 25, a cultural gala will be held in Serafin Sanchez Valdivia Central Park in anticipation of July 26, the 71st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks. (Source: PL)