- Dagoberto Valdes Hernandez
The Three Wise Men: Innocence, Cynicism And Freedom
Today, January 6, Christian culture celebrates the Day of the Three Wise Men. It is not only the feast of the Epiphany of Christ, that is, of his manifestation to all peoples and cultures represented by those Magi from the East of the world. It is also, as we will see, a cultural festival, especially in Cuba.
However, during the period of greatest religious persecution, the celebration of both Christmas and the beautiful children's feast of the Three Wise Men every January 6th was prohibited in Cuba. Even a strange "Children's Day" was instituted in July, which no one remembers anymore. That's how fleeting the holidays imposed by arbitrariness are. However, little by little, in the midst of the most frightening situation, the ancient tradition of the Day of the Three Wise Men is re-emerging in some Cuban families.
It is also a sad truth that when a religious and cultural feature such as that of the Three Wise Men is destroyed, the void begins to be filled, sometimes facilitated or pushed by those who emptied our most genuine traditions, by other customs that are completely foreign and without any biblical foundation, as the feast of the Three Wise Men has. Such is the case of the character of Santa Claus, with his enormous belly, red hats for the cold, and even sleighs for the snow, in a tropical country. The gifts are no longer brought by the Three Wise Men on the night of January 5-6, near the “Birth” of Jesus Christ, they are placed at the base of an artificial tree, generally not with the green of our native pines, but white with frost and ornaments from a cold country.
Just as this beautiful and authentic religious and cultural tradition of the Kings was abolished and replaced by traditions foreign to our culture, so could other elements and traits of identity that characterize our Cubanness. The peaceful struggle for freedom cannot include the assimilation of traditions and customs of nations that live in freedom, and if they are assimilated by family influence it is not by replacing those that are our own, but by opening them to the universality of these times. It is not about nostalgia for the old but about cultivating our roots.
