May Pilgrimage Came to an End

Text and photos: Amauris Betancourt.

(May 09) The Holguín May Pilgrimage fused day and night in its last day, extended till next day’s sunrise over the frieze of the Major General Calixto García Revolution Square in the city of Holguín, to the rhythm of Moneda Dura pop band headed by Nassiry Lugo.

The evening closing ceremony broke off with a gala held at the Ismaelillo movie-theater, and then the Holguín Axe –a symbol of city- was brought down from the top of the Hill of the Cross to the La Periquera History museum.

It was then that the presidency of the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS) and the directive branch of the Ministry of Culture in Holguín headed the parade from the city’s old side to the modern one.

The May Pilgrimage organizing committee, Cuban and foreign delegates, and members of the Jose Marti art brigade, holding flags, guarded by two vehicles, one with a tree from Quebec, Canada, the other with a giant screen showing images of the last Pilgrimage edition, made their way across the river of people packed at the roomy XX Aniversario avenue, until finally reaching the two 18-story buildings not far from the Hotel Pernik.

The tree from Quebec was planted then and the Holguín Axe was raised up to the top of one of the two buildings.

Then from a stage built for the occasion, Alexis Triana, top Culture official in Holguín, called the people for the coming 17th edition of May Pilgrimage.

Later, there were combined and simultaneous performances for the peoples’ satisfaction. Several artists from the delegations that attended the Festival performed at the central platform, while at the Calixto Garcia Revolution Square the mythical Canadian musician Vic Vogel directed a long Canadian-Cuban concert, or quebecois-holguín concert, which was followed by the local band of Andy Clay, to finally close the day with Moneda Dura Saturday early in the morning.

This was a bright ending to seven days of intense artistic events, from different manifestations, with people coming from all over Cuba and from different parts of the world. Holguín rejoices and keeps alive the hope of holding an International Festival of Artistic Youths within the already famous May Pilgrimage.