The celebration of Christmas in Cuba represents a religious celebration. Religion is an important part of the Christmas celebration in Cuba. Most people in Cuba are Catholic, which means that they are Christian (The World Factbook-Cuba). The main religious celebration for Christians is Christmas because it is intended to celebrate the birth of Christ. December 25 was the day reportedly that Christ was born, since he was born on December 25 Christmas is also on the same day in order to celebrate his birth. When celebrating Christmas there are no rights of passages that a person must endure for this religious celebration. Christmas is intended for the celebration and recognition of Christ’s birth and for no other religious purposes.
The cultural significance that the Christmas has on religion is that Christmas is a religious holiday. Christmas is a religious holiday for Christians. Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and other non-Christian religions do not celebrate Christmas. Many Cubans are Catholic and Catholics are Christians so it is natural for them to celebrate Christmas. Christmas is the main religious celebration for Christians and the people want to be able to celebrate it properly. Celebrating Christmas entails attending church services on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day. One other part of the religious celebration that occurs during Christmas is the exchange of gifts on Christmas day among family members and close friends. The exchange of gifts is a form of re-creation of when gifts were brought to the Virgin Mary after Christ was born.
The political significance of Christmas has changed throughout the years in Cuba. Before Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959 Christmas was celebrated just as Americans and many other countries celebrated it. In 1969, Fidel Castro banned the people in his country from celebrating Christmas at all (Christmas to be Observed in Cuba). The reasoning behind the ban on Christmas was to keep the people in the sugar cane fields so that there would be a bigger harvest of sugar each year (Ojito). Christmas was also banned in Cuba because the government is atheistic. Christmas is a religious celebration based upon Christianity, since the government does not support religion Christmas was banned.
In 1997, Fidel Castro announced that Cuba would celebrate Christmas officially for that year only (Christmas to be Observed in Cuba). Castro made this announcement due the upcoming visit to Cuba by the Pope. Making Christmas an officially recognized holiday for that year was a good will sign to the Pope and the Christian religion as a whole (Christmas to be Observed in Cuba). In 1998, the Cuban government officially reinstated Christmas and the people of Cuba were now free to celebrate Christmas once again (Have a Cuban Christmas). Allowing Christmas to be celebrated in Cuba was a huge step for a government that does not believe in any religion.
The economic significance that Christmas carries occurs in the way of sugar harvesting and the buying of decorations and gifts. When Christmas was banned sugar production increased because there were more people, still working during the holiday since it was not officially recognized. Now that Christmas is recognized there are less people working in the sugar can fields to harvest the sugar. To counter this the Cuban government has begun to use more machines in the harvesting of sugar cane to boost production and cut costs (Ojito). While people spend less time in the sugar cane fields, the harvesting machines spend more time and increase the productivity. Some believe that harvesting machines were part of the reason why the government allowed Christmas to be celebrated once again (Ojito).
The economy of Cuba is also a part of the Christmas celebration in the form of gift giving. People want to be able to give gifts to their family members and friends so they have to buy them from stores or make the gift themselves. Gift giving is not as big in Cuba as it is in the United States (Have a Cuban Christmas). People in the United States have more money to buy gifts for family and friends as opposed the people in Cuba. Many Cubans make anywhere from ten to twenty dollars a month (Lippman). A Christmas tree in Cuba can cost anywhere from seven to sixty dollars and many people can not afford to have a real tree and are reduced to buying a small plastic tree (Ojito). Since they do not have much money, the gifts that are given if any are not large and a person might only receive one gift. In the United States people are used to receiving multiple gifts and some of the gifts are expensive. Even though Cubans do not have much to spend on Christmas, they do spend what they can and it goes into the economy.
The culturally important ideas that Christmas expresses is that the government is in charge of everything. If the government does not want to celebrate Christmas then there is no Christmas. Evidence of this is clear by the ban on Christmas from 1969 to 1997. If the government does want to have Christmas then the people can celebrate Christmas. Clearly this happened when Christmas was reinstated in 1997. The other culturally important idea that Christmas expresses is the peoples will to celebrate their religious holiday. When Christmas was banned, many people still celebrated it within their homes. They kept the celebration secret so no one would find out that they were celebrating it, many people did not have trees because they were afraid of what the government would think of them. Even though Christmas was banned people still celebrated it and this shows the will to celebrate what they have always traditionally done.