4.3.3 Court Festivals and Regional Festivals in 17th Century Cuban Theatre


The Court Festivals and Regional Festivals designated celebrations that were organized by the colonial authorities of the 17th century in Cuba.

During the celebration of the Court Festivals, banquets and dances were held, salutes were fired, and the streets were decorated.

The Regional Festivals, a 17th-century festivity, were a reproduction of ancient festivities from the homeland of their participants, among whom were Catalans, Biscayans, mountaineers, Asturians, Aragonese, Galicians, and islanders.

These Cuban celebrations included a mandatory early morning Mass and a procession. There was also the ringing of the reveille, the parade of the Catalan cart with a bell, the consumption of traditional drinks and foods, and parades of decorated carts and banners with marching bands.

Individuals wore the traditional clothing of their region of origin. Their journeys were enlivened by musical bands. In the province of Matanzas, there was even a pilgrimage to Mount Montserrat.

The celebration of festivals like these in the Cuban archipelago contributed to both the formation of the foundations and the development of Cuban theater.

The painter Jorge Arche Silva (1905 – 1956), his contributions to the Cuban Plastic Arts
The plastic work of Enrique Caravia y Montenegro (1905 – 1992)
Wilfredo Oscar de la Concepción Lam y Castillo (1902 – 1982), the significance of his plastic work
The sculptor Teodoro Ramos Blanco (1902 – 1972), his work
The plastic work of Gumersindo Barea y García (1901 – ?)
The painter Carlos Enríquez Gómez (1900 – 1957), an essential exponent of Cuban visual arts
The work of the sculptor Juan José Sicre y Vélez (1898 – ?)
The work of the painter and architect Augusto García Menocal y Córdova (1899 – ?)