CubaPLUS Magazine

For a country and its people, culture is the set of distinctive, spiritual, material and emotions that characterize society, regardless of economic or social conditions of each person, since it also plays a primary role in the development of each person.

It can be stated that culture is present in the daily life of each Cuban, the way of speaking, acting, socializing that characterizes them. And this day, October 20, has a meaning that goes further, because on a day like today but in the year 1868, the Cuban national hymn, La Bayamesa, was sung for the first time in the heroic city of Bayamo, recognized as the cradle of Cuban nationality, composed by the distinguished patriot and musician Perucho Figueredo, which later became the National Anthem.

Every October 20, at 12 at night, that beautiful city has the tradition of singing the Anthem, right at the entrance of the Cathedral of San Salvador de Bayamo, in which 12 Bayamese (six white and six black) sing the triumphant march: “Run to  combat, Bayamese, for "The country contemplates you proudly."

A mural, located in the central arch of the city Cathedral, has the letter of the Anthem of Bayamo, because long before they met, the people of Bayamo hummed the melody. According to history, the beautiful song was born there during a religious festival.

The painting also reflects the blessing of the Flag of La Demajagua, the estate where Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Father of the Nation, gave freedom to his slaves on October 10, just 10 days before, that same year, an act that marks the beginning of the Cuban libertarian struggle.

The baptism of the tricolor flag is also captured in the painting, blessed by the then parish priest Don José Batista. May this day congratulate each and every one of the more than 11 million Cubans who live on this heroic island, an example of its patriotic struggle.