The Hill of the Cross and the City of Holguín

By Maylin Betancourt Verdecia.

Photos: Amauris Betancourt.

Translation by Juan Carlos Dominguez.

There are stories that seem to be too old to always be remembered, but the need to remind them becomes a must from time to time. Then a tiny goblin called memory comes back from its trip to the past. It comes closer, filled with traditions, with a scent to roots and preceded by a mystic whisper warning, each step it makes, that "the nation that forgets its history runs the risk of getting lost."

The climbing of 458 steps serves to notice why Holguin people praise that much the Hill of the Cross, just as a symbol. Everything looks better from up there. Imagination meets no border and even some people assure sadness goes away while looking all around.

The truth is that a few people know the mount was baptized as the Hill of the Cross back on May 3rd, 1790, because that day Fray Francisco Antonio de Alegria climbed the Bayado Hill, as it was then called, to place a wooden cross on the top. Since then, the cross has remained there and has become a jealous guardian safeguarding the city of Holguin.

And to honor that event, Holguin holds every year the popular May Pilgimage Festival, which begins precisely with a pilgrimage by Holguin dwellers climbing up the hill to make offerings, to beg for prosperity in the times to come, or to have fun.

Anyway, anyone coming to Holguín, nicknamed also the Cuban City of the Parks, for the first time, cannot miss the sweet challenge of climbing it.

Photos