Las Parrandas

If your idea of a Christmas celebration is a quiet evening with a few lights, the Parrandas de Remedios may require some adjustment.

There are illuminated floats, elaborate constructions, music, fireworks and a rivalry between two neighbourhoods: San Salvador and El Carmen.

People spend months preparing what will appear in the streets. Carpenters, designers, electricians, costume makers and entire families contribute. The final spectacle depends on an enormous amount of work that the visitor only sees the result of.

And people care about which side they belong to.

You may think both displays look beautiful. Someone beside you will explain, in considerable detail, why yours is an uninformed opinion and their neighbourhood is clearly superior.

Remedios is the best-known example, but the tradition of parrandas extends across several towns in central Cuba.

It is worth remembering when Cuba gets reduced to the same handful of Havana images. There are towns with their own rivalries, celebrations and traditions that deserve attention.

Just don’t expect everyone to agree on who put on the better show.

That conversation could take until next Christmas.

Sadly, these celebrations, along with los carnavales, are less noticeable or even canceled because of the shortages that happen in Cuba all the time. We've always had it, but it only gets worse. I remember when I was a kid, I would always look forward to the next Carnaval where, for a week or two you could have fun and bounce on trampolines for 10 pesos, get a piña colada, and get some fake tattoos. It has disappeared sadly. I haven't seen a carnival in my hometown for many years now. The only relief we had as kids is not even there anymore. It can only get worse.