New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-16
A SUNDAY IN CUBA.
VERY FEW ATTENDED THE CHURCH
SERVICE, BUT EVERYBODY WENT
TO THE DANCE AT THE PRIESTS
HOUSE IMMEDIATELY
AFTERWARD.
George KEENAN, In The Outlook.
AFTERWA

hundred and is made up very largely ~. "a
negroes. muattoes. quadroons or PEI pc, soa - %
sonno admixture of African blood. The dress Oh
the common people, although well adapted u .ns
climate is neither striking nor unusual ~
there Is little display OF bright Color ese, ~ ~
gowns and headgear of the women most Oh tiie
white men wear either the conventional uieos
of the civilized world or the CUBAN uhioii i ~
brown linen, while the poorer blacks are CUM
only in coarse whitishgr gray cotton shlrts anu
trousers-the former worn OUTSIDE the Ia -,
Russian fashion-and a weather-stalned stra"
or palmleaf Sombrero 8, n..ooo
The next Sunday after my arrlVa III Daia'oa
was New-Year's Day and. thinking that on
such an occasion should see considerable pa
of the population in holiday attrc, d. M, ia
attended divine service that moih,hs III ~"
dila Undated barnlike old edlhce on the piaZh, :
few steps east of the Twentieth Century Hotei;
The interior OF the building was as pare anu
tawdry as its neglected exterior hau Ieu m'o -,
ovnect There was the usual high altar, cQVereu
u,itb tinsel and artificial flowers, Dehind the
cast-iron chancel rail; few long yeHow cahui ANU,
were burning here and there in 'front.' OF silohy
pictures of the Madonna: a stone lont s'oou ne
H. door. coarse pictures representing stations
of the cross hung around the dngy vans. anu
there were half dozen unpaihteo Wooun
benches up near the CHANGER unaer 'he nsn So
pulpit: but the church. as Wnole III poiht VI
furnishing and decoration, would nave Deeh us
creditable to a Roman Catholic community Vi
five hundred souls in small American .s EI,ae j.;
And vet il was the only place or worship III
Raracoa-a town OF six thousand hVe nunureu
inhabitants. The congregation was maze up Vi
n dozen or more negro and muiatto boys ndns-
ing over the chancel rail- seventy-nVe or nun
dred women of all shades of complexion, VINO
brought with them cane seated chalrs Oh 'hel
own as well as thin rugs or doormats TO kneei
on and perhaps a dozen men ana all-groWh
bows standing here and there along the size
ualIs and about the wide-open door
The service was conducted by Q single priest,
with an assistant to hand nm MS ropes anu
vestments and a small boy to swing the censor,
and il did not differ essentially from the Romlsn
services in our own churches, except that the
languages used were Latin and Spanish instead
of Latin and English. The choir. which occupied
n nosition near the end of the chancel was com
posed Of two three uncultivated male voices,
supported by a saxOphone, kette-drum, Dig
brass horn and a gOurd rattle and the music
consisted of series Of slow. melancholy chants,
interrupted and enlivened now and then by
what sounded like march from comic opera.
For two or three minutes at time the voices
would sing dolefully to the accompaniment or
saxophone and horn and then the whole orches-
ira would dash suddenly into the quicker and
more cheerful melody of the march. whose
strongly marked time was accentuated by the
measured throbs of the deep-toned kettle drum
and the sharp. staccatO clicks of the gourd rat
tie. | subsequently learned that what mlstook
for an opera bouffe march was the Cuban ma
tional air. known as the 'Bayamesa' but. as |
had never heard it before of course | did not
recognize it. The service chiefly interesting
to me showing the unmportant part that the
Church plays in Cuban life and the insignificant
influence that ii exerts upon the Cuban popula-
ton. out of the sixty-fve hundred inhabitants
\
men and seventy five to a hundred women who
cared enough about the Church to attend an i'm
portant Sunday morning service on the first day
Of the new year. About II o'clock the small con-
gregatiOn dismissed. and most of the young
girls. with few Of the men and the whole eccle-
sastical orchestra. marched across the street to
the house of the priest where they were going
to have holiday dance. dance at ii o'clock
in the forenoon. in the house of the priest and
with the church choir and orchestra to furnish
music was an entertainment novel enough |
hntt phf IN ittCt in l. inc thl Co all
! II participation a spectator could fairly be
called Sabbath breakng-and at the invitation
Of DR.. lie Hardy | went with him to see the
performance. Perhaps ii was not exactly the
thing to do on Sunday morning. but. Captain
Sigsbee said when criticised for attending bull
fight on that day in Havana. lit was my duty
TO ascertain the character and temper of the
people" and. moreover. a Sunday dance was
likely to be quite as profitable to me-even spir-
itually-as an unn;elligible church service con-
sisting chiefly of sacerdotal mummery enlvened
with opera-bouffe music from a saxophOne a
kettle-drum gourd rattle and brass horn.
So far as one could judge from the attend
ance. the priests dance was great deal more
popular than his church service. There was a
crowd of interested spectators of both sexes. all
ages. and all shades OF chocolate brown. OppO-
site the wide-open door OF the front parlor; the
parlor itself filled with young men and
women. who when I arrived were marching
| solemnly around in circle to the stunning of
a deep-tOned Cuban guitar: and in the back
parlOr. or dining room. the priest himself with
perspring face was smoking a cigarette and
opening bottles Of beer while he talked hari-
ously with of his elderly parishioners
whose dancing days were over. but who could
still drink smoke and look on. AS did not care
to dance. thought my proper place was with
this class Of the guests So when I had been
presented to the priest and had refreshed my
self at his urgent invitation with bottle Of
lukewarm beer. took a seat behind the kettle
drum to watch the proceedings. The first dance
was waltz. the music for which was furnished
by saxophone and horn. with the drum and
gourd rattle to accentuate the time The dane
ing of the young men and women seemed to me
to be stiff. awkward and spritess, but as the