Santa blacklisted in Cuba, no X’mas spirit

Cubans have not taken to saying ‘‘Merry Christmas’’, which is not surprising since the atheist state had the holiday crossed off the calendar from 1969 to 1997. Most use ‘‘Happy Holidays’’ as their greeting and tend to see New Year’s Eve as a bigger seasonal holiday. ‘‘Few people say ‘Happy Christmas’. The young have no idea what it means,’’ said Carmen Vallejo, a Catholic dissident. Cuba did away with the Christmas holiday in 1969, when Castro’s government was trying to bring in a record sugar harvest of 10 million tonnes and needed Cubans to work the extra day cutting cane.

It became a holiday again in 1997, as a show of goodwill before the late Pope’s historic visit to Cuba.

This year, for the first time, authorities have allowed a choir of 93 singers from 28 Christian churches to sing Christmas carols in Cuba’s main cities and broadcast a performance on state-run television.

Residents say there are fewer lights than last year along the colonial-era shopping street, and fewer shoppers. Stores in Central Havana’s main shopping center, Carlos III, are stacked with Chinese goods, from bicycles and tennis rackets to skateboards and roller blades. Plastic toys made in China are expensive for Cubans, with some selling for $ 20, more than a doctor’s monthly salary. ‘‘There are much fewer shoppers this year. Things are very bad,’’ said Carlos, a parking attendant. ‘‘This is the worst year since I started here nine years ago. People have no money.’’

Many Cubans supplement meager wages with dollars sent by relatives in the US. But the cash remittances lost 20 per cent of their purchasing power after Cuba penalised the US currency a year ago and revalued its own currency. Cubans got some year-end relief from price cuts ordered by the government for some imported supermarket foods, including jam, raisins, tomato puree , canned tuna and sweet corn.

Christmas cheer or not, Cubans will enjoy a family dinner on Christmas Eve. —Reuters