Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-18

mingo de Ia
 day." Fl Figuril.,
 domingo de la Sara4-
 and the last, not usua.
 better classes, Fl entier1>
 ''The Burial of the Sardine.
 FIRST CARNIVAL SUM-
 Quaint, gay and brilliant at her
 First Carnival Sunday Havana is ul | ly one of the most interesting cities c. world. Her blended Moorisb Saracen @. Doric architecture has taken on added an cient seeming from the single universal deco | ration-the red and yellow flags of Spain in every conceivable form of festoon and dra- pery, disposed in every conceivable manner. By daylight the narrow calles and great pase- os are swarming with the lower classes. In these, their costumes, ways and sunny-faced ! delight one has as true study of the mixed l hordes of Spain, of Morocco and of Africa | as though Barcelona and Morocco were put l in stirring panorama together before one's ! vision. Until after the ''breakfast" at the l crowded casinos and cafes, along towards | noon, there is little else to be contemplated ! than universal jollity, cheer and song. Then 1 begins the gradual movement of the quarter ! million souls who exist in Havana, ana the \ thousands upon thousands from every part | of Cuba, towards the LouVe, the Campo Marto and to magnificent laurel-shaded ,Pra do, which sweeps from Campo Marto to l Parque de la Punta by the sea-. Up Sol, Of I fcios, Teinte Key and Obispo streets come the dense throngs of mestizos or mixed breeds of every sort from the dark corners of Regla. From Vedado and the outlying villas l along the sea come great crowds of merry | makers. Down Cerro and Jesu del Monte i ways and from the white calzadas that wind | to the interior troop startling masses of peo- pie. While from out the recesses of Calle Baluarte quarter come hordes of the densest barbaric and awful, with enough fetiehism ! in score of them to bedeVil a..whole city. But on this day all are equal. There is the l same license to all. From the rich and great ! to the most horribly low and lost-here 1t ! sometimes seems in mixed eoolie and negro l lazzaroni Illustrative of the most awfully hideous of Gods handiwork in man-there are but smile and lightsomeness, indescriba- ble elated happiness and 1mperturbable good humer. These tremendous collections of humans never crowd and hurt as with us. There is an elasticity and an agreeable divisi- bility about great Cuban throngs which must \ be set down as the best test and expression \ of 8 characteristic good nature. And vast 1 as these throngs repeatedly become, the pres | sure is invariably relieved without panics or I the police.
 | The principal occupation of the people in | these carnival throngs is seeing and being | seen. Next in importance in attracting ones attention is the Vociferous clatterlng, terrific gesticulation, feasting, drinking and singing, ! which are continually in progress. The 1 songs of old Spain oftener heard. But i here and there rollicking Cuban ballads are | shouted and beloved uproariously. sin gular fact about all these street carnival songs | is that one will never hear the beginning or ending of any. Bars and slaves seem to gur. | gle through the universal bubbling over of ! good feeling. 4 hundred voices will seize l upon them and curiously follow them. But 1 this is only for 8 moment. Then here or ! there another and another is begun, and l these in time drown out the former abrupt Ixr, oS1v6E hoe ! attracted the attention, and instantly away go mind and merriment in a totally differ- l ent direction. It is not difficult to trace in this the shadow of that national character istic which is so sore 8 weakness to these people. There is no steadfast purpose in anything. Impulse rules all action. ! THE MAsKERs.
 By three o'clock in the afternoon the maskers have taken possession of the chs
 tire city. These do not appear in imposing processions. Tens of thousands of groups or individuals, each simply giving expression to
 eon,e isolated vagary, fit hither and thither
 like myriads of mystic spirits of misrules
 There is not in it all a single keen or witty
 thing. The same anticipated, idiotic things are done, as have been done in the streets of
 Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona for more than a thousand years. The very ancient faVors
 of every mask, figure or antic is it's truest
 merit to these people. Their history, legend,
 
 burlesque and hideous grotesqueness. But
 what mirth it all brings! These hundreds of 1 thousands in the thought of an onlooker are
 but one stupendous grin, giggle and gufaw, Up and down the streets with the ponderous airs of 8 hundred thou
 tramp the weird maskers as if in time
 with the rhyme of never ending tune; and,
 as though as endlessly, thrice hundred
 thousand voires roar and yell with delight. Every soul in the city is upoa the streets, in the nyriads of balconies or upon tke house
 tops. Wine flows like water. Every con-
 ceivable form of melody, tune and sound
 clash and crash in pleasant uproar. Under
 tine portieoes or swarming upon the balconies
 of the great structures facing the Prado and
 Campo Marto are thousands of foreigners. People of every known nationality look upon
 these bewiIdering scenes. Ten thousand car riages, including tho public victorias, are filled with the wealth and beauty of Cuba.
 High officials disporting lavish insignia;
 nobility profusely decorated and famous gene
 rals blazing in lace and gold, rich planters in
 white in gorgeous turnouts; noble caballeros
 sn magnifcently accoutred steeds, and
 thousands of carriages crowded with the most
 strikiagly beautiful women in the world form moving lines of flint and flash and celor
 intercepting and separating the masses afeot,
 until the changes of color, the hutter of laces and fans, the fash of jewels and gold, blend
 
 The most tremendous kaleidoscope has never more endless change and glowing fash ings On it's noblest days the Paris Champs Elysees pales into insignifeance beside it.
 AT NIGHT.
 When night has come the city is one tre-
 mendous blaze of light and blare of sound.
 The aristocracy resort to the splendid casinos where the most brilliant balls of the world | are given. Most of these are en masque. What | would stand for American fortune is fre-
 quently 1avished upon one womans costume
 The less rich, the middle and lower classes, the
 very coolies, are provided for. All Havana
 is bundle of casinos or centros. Every grade of human belongs to some one of these
 centros. They are usually named from the
 Spanish province from which members came
 or were descended as Centro Catalan, Centro
 Gallego, Centro Andaluz, Centro Castellano,
 etc. At these, fifty thousand merrymakers
 resort to feast, sing and dance the whole l night long. A hundred thousand souls | carouse upon the streets until daylight. | But the dream of the year to the average
 anybody is the ball at the great Tacon theater. It's entire parouette floor is raised
 by means of stationary screws to the level of the stage. This, the stage and wings, from
 which the scenery is removed, with the l courts and areas within and about the thea ter, give space for 2,000 dancers. Several
 thousand spectators are also in attendance. 1 Among these are representatives of the aris- | 2, 900 American and other foreign tourists
 without that much regard for decency. The
 theater is one mass of flowers. Two and
 often three erchestras are provided. The
 management furnishes large numbers of huge
 bouquets, and one colossal one-una gran pucha-which are from time to time un-
 loosed by hidden wires, so that Eanyone pres ent may secure at will gorgeous bouquet.
 Until midnight the dancing and revelries
 are quite within the bounds of moderation;
 but from thence until morning the orgies are
 indescribable, far eutstripping in wanten in-
 decency anything ever witnessed at the old l Jardin Mabile in Paris.
 THRDANCES.
 The dances here indulged in are La Danza,
 an universal Cuban dance, very similar to the
 German waltz; Ell Danzon, derived from La
 Danza; and, when the orgies are at their
 maddest, La Habanera, the most passionate of
 all dances known to man. Of this the
 Cubans say: Hace pestanar un Santo de llesol -"It would make even a plaster saint winkl'
 And so it would. cold Weman's Sunday
 "The Dandy's Sunday" "Sardine Sun
 day." and the barely tolerated Sunday
 of the Sardine's Burial" are each
 simply a repetition in every respect !, I t0f prip Ja