By: Verónica Fernández Díaz

Legend has it that Cecilia was a very devoted virgin and forced by her parents to marry. One day, her husband found her together with an archangel in the form of a young man and she was sentenced to death for adultery.

Sometime later, Pope Pascual I found the body of the saint wrapped in a gold cloth dyed in blood with the following emblem: Cantantibus organis Cecile Dominus de cantalat, which translates as “Cecilia, to the sound of the instruments sang the Hossana to the mister”. This is how painters and poets began to represent her playing instruments such as the organ, the harp or the zither and she became the holy protector of musicians.

The nineteenth-century celebration of November 22nd was maintained sporadically until the first half of the 20th century in Camagüey. In the Memoirs of the Benemérita Popular Society of Santa Cecilia the celebration is described as a vocal and instrumental concert where the most representative of local music and some foreign guests were presented.

The celebration disappeared when the Society’s premises were used for other purposes. Since then, the celebration of Santa Cecilia has fallen into oblivion, at least in the main city, since there are reports of its celebration in homes in the municipality of Florida. Among them, one located in the Morales neighborhood, and the most important, in the home of the Reyes-Beckford family, which, according to Norberto Reyes Beckford, had the initial impulse of the flutist Orlando Beltrán Brunet, a member of the Maravilla de Florida.

Double bass player José Reyes Austin belongs to this family, the first conductor of the Jóvenes Estrellas orchestra, later Maravilla de Florida -which emerged in that city in 1948. As in the 19th century, every November 22dn José Reyes Austin and his wife Edita Beckford Robinson assumed the celebration of Santa Cecilia in their home. For the occasion they built a hierarchical altar with steps covered with a white tablecloth and 22 candles.

At the top of it was placed an image of Santa Cecilia adorned with flowers, sweets and homemade drinks. Around were the musical groups invited to liven up the evening. In those celebrations groups from the territory performed such as Enriquito’s group and his boys, La clave, Serenata de Florida and, of course, the Maravilla de Florida orchestra.

For very special occasions and sporadically, there was the accompaniment of ecclesiastical authorities who celebrated the mass on the 22nd dedicated to the saint and cultural institutions such as the Trova House Pedro Loforte Sablón. In this, a series of activities were carried out aimed at making known, through conferences and talks by cultural promoters, the life of Santa Cecilia and its celebration in other parts of the world —especially during the Félix Agüero Trova Festival. —.

Painting and drawing workshops were also held in order to popularize her image; meetings with musicians and students were promoted to sing to Santa Cecilia and motivate new musical creations in her honor; as well as the sale of handicrafts with the image of Santa Cecilia. At the end of these activities, the artists and the public moved to the home of the Reyes-Beckford family to continue the musical evening that lasted until dawn.

The celebration also had moments of silence for various reasons. One of them, the mourning for the death of a close relative, or for unfavorable economic conditions that the country has experienced as the Special Period. But it has had the promotional support of personalities such as Eladio, Don Pancho, Terry -also known as the King of the Chekeré, composer and director of the Maravilla de Florida orchestra for some time- who promoted the Florida celebration of Santa Cecilia in stellar programs on Cuban radio as “Alegrías de sobremesa”.

Although it has not had constant support from the cultural authorities of the municipality, it has survived as a family celebration that with the passage of time is reborn and renewed with young graduates, many times from art schools in the province.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García