CUBA TESORO, a window open to all, a solution to discover, learn and obtain information about Cuba, the treasure island, its activities, shops, events, programs, billboards, products, customs, stories, famous places, in short, a site to help keep you informed.
Cuban Music proposes through its articles a journey through one of the most relevant artistic expressions of the Cuban cultural field. The mestizo musical styles that were born in Cuba continue to be enormously popular and influential throughout the world.
Cubans are people who mostly differ from the inhabitants of other nations because of their customs and traditions. Those who live on the island are usually happy, dancers, friendly with a wide sense of humor and lovers of talking and sharing with the family. Cubans are those people who arrive at a waiting room in a hospital or a queue to do paperwork or receive services and leave with new friends. They are lovers of parties with music and drinks, hence some of their most popular celebrations are carnivals where there is a waste of traditions and popular and cultural elements. Parrandas are also celebrations of some regions of the island that are highly anticipated by locals and visitors each year.
Within the traditions of the inhabitants of the island are the celebrations of the end of the year in different regions of the country. Some make a doll and burn it at midnight to eliminate all the bad things of the year that is ending, others throw buckets of water into the street with the same objective and the most important thing is to celebrate with a traditional meal for the date and all the family. Cubans also have customs of visiting unannounced, throwing the first drink from a bottle, drinking coffee at any time of day and making hand gestures when speaking.
Nature in Cuba is made up of various ecosystems such as coastal, semi-deserts, mogotes… a diverse geography that invites us to discover national parks, botanical gardens, biosphere reserves. Other aspects that make people fall in love with the Greater Antilles are a very warm climate that makes the country an eternal summer, abundant vegetation, caves, beautiful beaches, keys and various natural sites where you can appreciate a paradisiacal environment.
In Cuba there are also some sites that UNESCO has declared Biosphere Reserves for its importance in terms of the species it treasures. Among the options offered to tourists who prefer direct contact with the environment are excursions, hiking, diving sites with special coral reefs, sport fishing and other attractions as unique as the rivers of Baracoa, the Great Stone in Santiago of Cuba, Pico Turquino in Granma, the Valle de los Ingenios in Sancti Spiritus, El Nicho in Cienfuegos, the Cuevas de Bellamar in Matanzas or the Viñales Valley in Pinar del Río, just to mention a few of the extensive list of natural attractions that has the Caribbean island.
Cuban culture was defined by the ethnologist and researcher Fernando Ortiz as an ajiaco, since elements from other cultures converge in it to form the identity of the nation. When the Spanish came to colonize Cuba, the aborigines had their customs and culture, but what really took hold on the island was the mixture of the Spanish with the Africans who arrived as slaves in those lands. Some cultural elements were intertwined that were transcending to other generations such as dances, music, religious beliefs, food, customs and traditions.
Nothing in Cuban culture was totally autochthonous but rather a mixture that gave rise to what today distinguishes that people. Even in that nation elements of their ancestors such as folk dances, religious elements, patron saint festivities and even words that are in daily speech are preserved. It is a very diverse culture that has been enriched over several years and that today distinguishes Cubans wherever they arrive in the world. In that country, every October 20, the day of Cuban Culture is celebrated, since on that date in 1868 the notes of the National Anthem were sung for the first time. It was a composition titled La Bayamesa and composed by Perucho Figueredo just ten days after the start of the war of national liberation.
Cuban culinary art, represented by a cuisine of Hispanic origin with African influences and a million Latin ingredients. Proposal to integrate…
Since the discovery of Cuba by the Spanish, the history of that island had already begun, as several aboriginal communities inhabited the area. Later came the stage of colonization, the mambisa struggles, the North American intervention, the struggle in the plains and the mountains, the revolutionary triumph and the future of the socialist nation. All these periods with their characteristics and leading characters are reflected in the different museums that the country has throughout the entire national territory. The story goes that the first sites of this type were in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba. After 1959, an extensive cultural program of restoration, conservation and expansion of the collections of the existing museums began and others were created throughout the island.
In 1989, it was decided that an institution of this type would open its doors in each municipality of the country to preserve and share the history and traditions of the communities. For those who love to know the past of the men and women of each region, in Cuba you can also find museums specialized in different themes that will be an incomparable adventure towards the paths of knowledge and history. If you want to see a site that offers specialized details about art, perfumes, automobiles, rum, popular festivals, pharmacy, firefighters or numismatics in the Greater Antilles, you can find it converted into museums.
Cuba is a country with a rich history full of struggle and sacrifices to achieve the independence that they have until today. The first inhabitants of that nation were the aborigines of different groups and with their distinctive characteristics. With the conquest and colonization by the Spanish there were clashes with these inhabitants and then they introduced several African slaves who also rebelled at certain times. In 1868, landowner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes decided to start the first fight for independence, historically known as the Ten Years’ War. This contest failed due to different factors but others followed in later years. In 1898 the Americans intervened in the war and three years later they established the Neocolonial Republic.
Then came other important moments to continue the fight for independence. The younger generations began to confront the owners of power at that time and carried out various armed actions in the cities and the countryside. They created the July 26 Movement, assaulted the Moncada Barracks, entered the Sierra Maestra until they triumphed on January 1, 1959. In the years ahead, the Revolution and its leader Fidel Castro carried out various programs and projects for the benefit of the population. . Currently they have developed in education, culture, science, health, agriculture, construction, tourism and other spheres of the economic and social life of the island.
Much of the history, customs, ways of life and problems that surround Cubans are reflected in the island’s cinema from its beginnings to the present. They say that the first cinematographer arrived on the island in 1897 in the hands of Gabriel Veyre and in that same year the first Cuban documentary titled Fire drill and dedicated to firefighters was made. The first film materials from Cuba had a marked patriotic and nationalist influence. The first works were not of great quality but they were laying the foundations of cinematographic art in the Greater Antilles. From then on, other materials were made that transcended as part of the history of art on the island and some with international recognition.
With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the Cuban Institute of Art and Film Industry ICAIC was created to promote this art in the country. Many Cuban films have had international awards and there are currently several events and festivals to share among film lovers and reward the most outstanding. Every year producers, actors and the public meet in different provinces and dates to enjoy the best and most current of the big screen on the Caribbean island and the rest of the world.
In the Caribbean region, Cuba stands out for the diversity and beauty of its flora and fauna, perhaps because of the natural conditions conferred by its status as an island. The national flora has a wide diversity between fruit, ornamental, timber, mangrove plants and other families that exceed six thousand species. There is a significant number of specimens that are endemic to the island and others that are included in conservation projects to preserve them. Due to the special views offered by its fields and landscapes, the Cuban flora is considered one of the most diverse in the region.
As for the fauna of the island, there are more than 16 thousand species, distributed in birds, amphibians, arachnids, mammals, molluscs, insects, fish, reptiles and others. For naturalists, this country has special attractions for having a large number of endemic species and others unique of their kind in the world due to their tiny sizes. There are also several specimens that are studied and protected today because they are in danger of extinction. There are many animals in the area that attract the attention of visitors due to their colors, dimensions, customs, stories and unique and very unique characteristics.
Natural spaces predominate in Cuba with a very unique attraction in the Caribbean region. UNESCO has granted six sites in the country the status of Biosphere Reserves for their peculiar natural beauty. In these places, efforts are made to ensure that economic, cultural and human development is sustainable, in addition to supporting environmental projects and research and conserving diverse species, ecosystems and landscapes.
In the west of the country, the Guanahacabibes Peninsula stands out with a considerable variety of birds and other species of fauna and the Sierra del Rosario where a significant number of people live and important mogotes and tropical forests are maintained. In Matanzas, on the other hand, is La Ciénaga de Zapata with a large presence of crocodiles and notable wetlands.
Buenavista is added to this list, which covers the provinces of Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Ávila and which includes some National Parks and keys. The two remaining sites that have the category of Biosphere Reserves are Las Cuchillas del Toa in Holguín and Guantánamo with one of the most outstanding and endemic faunas in the country, as well as Baconao in Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo.
