Translator: MSc. Guillermo Rodriguez Cortes
3rd World Congress on Death- The Caribbean Center, the organizing institution of the Caribbean Festival, as part of the program of its 42nd edition, calls for the 3rd World Congress on Death, to be held at the Heredia Convention Center July 4-7.
The Mexican celebrations of life and death, also known as the Day of the Dead festivities, are among the regional events that have reached world recognition as they are carried out by the Mexican people, and at the same time evidence the particular relationship of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean with death and festivities, areas in which the cultural resistance of our peoples is also expressed.
General Topics
1. Mexican celebrations of life and death. Origins, regional customs, diversity and Mexican national identity.
2. Life and death in the popular cultures and traditions of the Caribbean. Their equivalents in other parts of the world.
3. Life and death in the cosmogony of the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world.
4. Representations of death in carnivals and other festivities in the Caribbean.
5. Representations of death in cultures and arts. Religion, death narratives, literature, plastic arts and popular crafts, theater, music, material culture, others.
6. Death and its treatment in medical sciences, public health and popular knowledge.
7. Approaches to death from psychiatry, psychology and folk wisdom. Reinterpretations of death in philosophy and other humanistic sciences.
8. Death and social violence.
9. Criminal law and death.
10. Funeral art.
As part of the academic program of the 42nd Caribbean Festival, the following specialized Workshops and Meetings will also take place.
– Workshop on popular religions in Cuba and the Caribbean. Ceremonies and rituals.
– Music workshop.
– Plastic Arts Workshop. Includes handicrafts and popular art.
– Dance and percussion workshop.
– Popular theater workshop.
– Meeting of groups of bearers and expressions of popular cultures and traditions.
– Meeting of poets. The Caribbean and the world.
– Meeting of oral storytellers.
– Meeting of young creators in the Caribbean.
– Exhibition of Caribbean cinema and videos.
– Archaeology workshop.
– Caribbean Educators Workshop.
– Meeting of tattooing and piercing.
– Book presentations and other publications.
How to participate?
– For the World Congress on Death, you should send your paper or communication to the organizers, and the Technical Advisory Board of the Casa del Caribe will confirm if your work has been selected, as well as how it will be exhibited.
– For the specialized Workshops and Meetings, you should contact the coordinator of each one directly.
CONTACTS
– Dr.C. Carlos Lloga Domínguez. General Coordinator. E-mail: carloslloga056@gmail.com
– Lic. Cesar Larduet. Assistant. Telephone: (+53) 22643609….
As the peoples reveal themselves in their festivities, and joy and freedom undress the souls, it is good to observe the cities in the days in which the rejoicing, expansive of nature, takes out of them what they have of tender, indifferent or barbaric». José Martí (Other Chronicles on New York, second edition, Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1983, p. 16).
Santiago de Cuba Is Ready for the 42nd Caribbean Festival
Translator: MSc. Guillermo Rodriguez Cortes
42nd Caribbean Festival, Santiago de Cuba – With the preparation of galas, conferences and seminars and a call for artists and researchers, organizers of the event are preparing the 42nd edition of the Feast of Fire, dedicated to the Mexican celebrations of life and death.
According to Santiago Ruy, the cultural attaché of the Embassy of Mexico in Cuba, the constant contact with the Caribbean Center in the conformation of the shows and exchanges means a lot to strengthen diplomatic, artistic and scientific ties between both nations.
Oscar Escobedo, in charge of the artistic direction on behalf of the Latin American country, informed about the realization of a gala in honor of the Day of the Dead with Santiago de Cuba performers, as well as the presence of the Symphonic Orchestra of Oriente and mariachis from different Mexican regions and thanked the support of the local authorities of the sector.
Regarding the theoretical meetings, Carlos Lloga, who is in charge of their organization, highlighted the challenge of responding to the historical ties established between Cuba and Mexico, through the study and debate on the honored festivity in this edition.
The traditional Caribbean Festival, held in the Hero City, is the event with the greatest plurality in terms of expressions of popular culture held in the Antillean nation, and the only space of its kind where every year all the country’s carrier groups meet.
MEXICAN CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND DEATH
The Caribbean Center, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba and the Santiago de Cuba Provincial Culture Board, calls for the 42nd edition of the Caribbean Festival, Feast of Fire, to be held from July 3 to 9, 2023 in Santiago de Cuba.
This time it is dedicated to the MEXICAN CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND DEATH, a festivity that brings together the spirituality, magic, cultural diversity, history and material culture of all Mexico, and which was declared by UNESCO, Oral and Intangible Heritage of Mankind in 2003.
The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, which traditionally takes place on November 1 and 2, also offers multiple points of contact with the popular cultures of the Caribbean region, especially with carnivals, and refers to ancestral rites and beliefs closely linked to death, easily recognized and rooted among the peoples of the Caribbean.
It is an exceptional opportunity for all of us to bring together, in Santiago all of Mexico wrapped in the magic and colors of this major celebration, which will undoubtedly showcase the bonds that link our peoples and cultures treasured in the Caribbean.
