Christmas has been celebrated as a holiday in Cuba for
only 3 years. Cuba officially became an atheist nation in 1962, but the
Christmas holiday was celebrated until 1969, when Fidel Castro decided it
was interfering with the sugar harvest. Accordingly, it
was dropped from the Cuban calendar of holidays in 1969 as the island
strove for a record sugar harvest.
However, the church had continued to call for greater respect for the
celebration of Christmas after authorities banned the public display of
Christmas trees and nativity scenes, other than in places frequented by
tourists, such as hotels.
In 1997 President Castro restored the holiday to honor, the visit of Pope
John Paul II in the island. Although Catholicism is
a broad cultural backdrop in Cuba, the number of practicing Catholics
among the country's 11 million people is more limited.
With the reinstatement of the X'mas a large Mass is held in
Havana's Revolution Square. Thousands of Cubans worship at midnight
Masses, as church bells ring out across Havana to mark the moment when
Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day.
Cubans celebrate Christmas with traditional fervor and revelry. Those who
can afford it try to make a special meal and decorate their houses, and
church-going Christians attend services. Cubans spent the days before
Christmas buying pork, apple cider, beans, bananas and other fruit in
preparation for their holiday festivities.
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