Cachita's streets : the Virgin of Charity, race, and revolution in Cuba

Author(s)

• Schmidt, Jalane D.

Bibliographic Information

Cachita's streets : the Virgin of Charity, race, and revolution in Cuba

Jalane D. Schmidt

（Religious cultures of African and African diaspora people / series editors, Jacob K. Olupona, Dianne M. Stewart, Terrence L. Johnson）

Duke University Press, 2015

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-345) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, also called Cachita, is a potent symbol of Cuban national identity. Jalane D. Schmidt shows how groups as diverse as Indians and African slaves, Spanish colonial officials, Cuban independence soldiers, Catholic authorities and laypeople, intellectuals, journalists and artists, practitioners of spiritism and Santeria, activists, politicians, and revolutionaries each have constructed and disputed the meanings of the Virgin. Schmidt examines the occasions from 1936 to 2012 when the Virgin's beloved, original brown-skinned effigy was removed from her national shrine in the majority black- and mixed-race mountaintop village of El Cobre and brought into Cuba's cities. There, devotees venerated and followed Cachita's image through urban streets, amassing at large-scale public ceremonies in her honor that promoted competing claims about Cuban religion, race, and political ideology. Schmidt compares these religious rituals to other contemporaneous Cuban street events, including carnival, protests, and revolutionary rallies, where organizers stage performances of contested definitions of Cubanness. Schmidt provides a comprehensive treatment of Cuban religions, history, and culture, interpreted through the prism of Cachita.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii Introduction. "Antes": Processions Past 1 Part I. Cuba Produnda, 1612-1927 1. From Foundling to Intercessor: Our Lady Help of Slaves 17 2. Mambisa Virgin: Patrona of the Patria 49 Part II. Regal Streets, 1931-1936 3. Royalty in Exile: Banishing Bembes 69 4. Crowning La Caridad: The Queen of Republican Cuba 94 Part III. Martial Streets, 1951-1958 5. The Virgin General on the March: Conquering Cuba? 131 6. Rebel Sierras and Lowlands: Petitioning the Mother of Cuba 164 Part IV. Revolutionary Streets, 1959-1998 7. "!Todos a la Plaza!": Mobilizing in Revolutionary Time and Space 185 8. "The Streets Are for Revolutionaries!": Prohibiting Processions 207 9. Luchando in the Special Period: Papal Visit 235 Conclusion. Processions Present: Returning to the Streets, 1998-2012 273 Notes 299 Bibliography 323 Index 347

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BB26914002
• ISBN:
  • 9780822359180
• LCCN: 2015009507
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Durham
• Pages/Volumes: xi, 357 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : BT660.C349
  • DC23 : 277.291/082
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Caridad del Cobre, Virgen de la
  • LCSH : Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- Devotion to -- Cuba
  • LCSH : Cuba -- Race relations
  • LCSH : Revolutions -- Cuba -- History
  • LCSH : Cuba -- History
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BB23439911