Sunday in Havana

  Havana, Cuba
Sunday, July 6, 2008

The next day was Sunday, and Sunday for many people the world over signifies church. Cuba is no exception, despite the misinformation often said about the role of religion in Cuba. There is a Baptist church affiliated with the Martin Luther King Center. So after breakfast, those of us interested attended the service. Children had been arriving going to the location for their age-appropriate Sunday school.

children arriving for Sunday School class

My knowledge of every religion is fairly limited. I have attended only three religious services in my life, all a variety of Christianity, all in a foreign language, so my observations and descriptions will seem basic. Please excuse my ignorance.

We entered the church early, only a few of the congregation had arrived. The musical team, a keyboardist and several vocalists were rehearsing.

rehearsing the music before service

1-arriving to church

By 11 the church was filled and the service began. Throughout the service various people got up and read parts of the Bible. This was interspersed by others who got up and sang, either individually or in a group. There was an overhead projector with the lyrics both in English and Spanish so we could sing along.

Reverend Lucius Walker gave the sermon, excellently translated by Alberto, one of our translators.

service, Rev. Walker and Alberto (translator)

This was followed by the Liturgists, a group of senior citizens dressed all in white who preformed a dance.

during the service, liturgical team

The service closed with a ceremony lead by a group that passed around a collection basket and ended with bread and wine shared with the entire congregation.

During lunch we celebrated Jovana's birthday, the Caravanista who turned eight years old.

birthday celebration

After lunch, a small group of us was introduced to historically significant sites in old Havana. With a guide we saw the Plaza de Armas, a lush and shady and cool park, site of used-book sellers several days a week, site of a historic meeting, the cathedral,

Cathedral

and a museum of colonial artifacts. We also saw a colorful group of street performers

3-street performers

and a historic section of a street that had been surfaced with wood.

street surfaced in wood

Later in the afternoon we saw a performance of two dance pieces by Danza Contemporánea de Cuba (Contemporary Dance of Cuba), a very modern dance company at the Gran Teatro. The pieces, El Pesa de una Isla (The Weight of an Island) and Espejos (Mirrors) were both very dark and had several of us discussing their meaning over breakfast the next day. The dancers were technically excellent. Both pieces were very demanding and required a lot of skill as well as endurance.