Welcome to the BoricuameRican podcast, where we talk about a whole bunch of stuff related to being Puerto Rican and American! From our own personal experiences growing up bicultural, to highlighting Boricua people, events, history, good, bad, and almost everything in between. I’m your host Nancy, and normally my lovely sister Yovany is here with me, but she is unavailable this week, so I have a special cohost with me, my hubby of 19 years, Chris. He is a self-described watered down white guy, who from day one fell in love with our culture, especially the food. Cuz what’s not to love! Hi Chris!
Hello Nancy, Thank you for having me! Yes, I am a watered down white boy and I do love the Puerto Rican culture. I love the culture, I love the people, I love the island, and if you've heard any of the previous programs that I have guested upon, you know I love the food. So it is a pleasure and an honor to be here.
As always thank you for your support. We are on the socials, on Instagram @boricuamerican or @boricuamerican_podcast. On Facebook we have a group we would love for you to join, it’s also under the name Boricuamerican. Or you can email me at nancylynnpinto@gmail.com.
Today we’re gonna talk about the significance of July 25th, since we are in mid-July right now and it’s around the corner. July 25th is a big day in Puerto Rico, both politically and spiritually. Even long before it became an official holiday, it was an important anniversary. We’ll start with the heavy stuff and then get lighter. Chris please it away!
So let’s go back a tiny bit first. We know that Spain controlled Puerto Rico from the time of Christopher Columbus until the Spanish-American War of 1898. Well, the date that the US troops landed in Puerto Rico to wrest control was July 25, 1898. They arrived on the southwest coast, in what is now the town of Guánica. Because of this, at some point July 25th would come to be known as “Occupation Day.”
Three years later, on July 25th, 1901, free trade began between Puerto Rico and the United States.
Now, from 1898 until the 1950s, the US pretty much governed the island. Even the first governors appointed were American (until 1947 when Congress passed the Elective Governor Act to allow Boricuas to vote for their own governor every 4 years). Without going into too much detail, which we can do another time, suffice it to say that Puerto Ricans started working with the US Congress to let them take a more active role in the rest of their own lawmaking and government structure and therefore future. They wanted more self-determination.
What came out of these efforts was Puerto Rico’s very own constitution. On July 25th, 1952, Puerto Rico’s first elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, signed this new Constitution into law and proclaimed the island the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This would allow them to have different political parties, hold democratic elections, and basically have more control over decisions made on the island. This historic day is called in Spanish la Conmemoración del Estado Libre Asociado (in English, Commonwealth Constitution Day, aka Puerto Rican Constitution Day. It’s a government holiday. And that’s how it has remained ever since. And I will leave it at that for now!
Yeah, that's a big, big debate: whether to be independent or become a state or stay a Commonwealth. They've always voted to remain a commonwealth, but there's always a lot of fighting and political discussions about the status... but that's for another time!
I wanna move on to 1980-something: one-half of BoricuameRican is born! Not me though. My beautiful younger sister and co-host Yovany, who regrets not being able to make it today. She makes the show a lot more fun! Happy Birthday Yovy!!
Now, there are also some religious and spiritual observances on July 25th. It is the Feast Day of St. James – in Spanish, Las Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol (Santiago translates to St. James in this case). James, aka Santiago, is the Patron Saint of Loiza, a city about half hour east of San Juan. The origins of this tradition date back to when Spain, a heavily Catholic country, defeated the Muslim Moors in the 1500’s, around the time they colonized and settled on Puerto Rico. Although St. James Day is observed in a number of towns throughout Puerto Rico, including Aibonito, Fajardo, Guánica, and Santa Isabel, the biggest and most well-known celebration on the island takes place in Loíza (which is a half hour east of San Juan). I’ve never been to Puerto Rico during the summer, but I’ve read about the festival, and man it looks fun. If I ever get the chance to check it out, I definitely will.
The festival, which is a blend of African + Spanish traditions, is more than just reenacting the battle of the Spaniards vs Moors. It’s more than just honoring St. James/Santiago, who the Spanish love and chose as their patron saint because they think he directly helped them win their war. It honors African influence on Puerto Rican culture. Remember, Puerto Rican culture was only created 500 years ago, with the blending of the native Tainos, the European colonizers, and the African slaves. Even though Puerto Rico is pretty small, it’s also diverse. Some parts of the island have heavier African influence, some heavier Spanish, some heavier Taino. It's crucial to keep the traditions alive, and in Loiza especially to maintain the contributions of the African people to our culture.
We can dig deep and do multiple episodes on all the politics, meanings, origins, and everything behind every part of the festival, but that’s something for the future.
For right now let’s talk about what goes on during the festival. First of all, it’s 10 days long! This year (we’re recording in 2023) it goes from July 21-30th. There are parades, there’s local music, food, arts and crafts, even a 5K. The music is traditionally bomba which was brought to the island by the African slaves. The music is characterized by heavy percussion, call-and-response style of singing, and improvised dancing. We talked about the basics of bomba in Episode 27.
There are some key characters that come out to play. Traditionally they are portrayed by men.
First you have the Spanish knights, known as caballeros. These are the quote unquote good guys. They’re dressed in elaborate, colorful fancy garb. They represent the force for good.
Then you have Vejigantes – who we covered in episode 10. These are the bad guys, the enemies of the Spanish caballeros. They represent evil, or traditionally, the Moors (sorry). They are dressed in what can best be described as colorful, billowy clown-like costumes, and they wear horned, painted masks made of coconut shells.
You also have Los Viejos, who represent the poor. Sometimes they beg for money. Their costumes are made of rags, and their masks are made of flimsy material like paper.
Finally, you have Las Locas, which despite the feminine for locas are actually men dressed up as women, and who run around making mischief and entertaining the crowds.
The patron saint is well represented too. There are 3 different statues of St. James, one for men, one for women and one for children. There are processions for each one on different days. Attending a Catholic church service (aka Mass) is a big part of the festival period.
Well, St. James may have the bigger rager, but he isn’t the only one whose feast day is July 25th. This is also the feast day of St. Christopher, who happens to be the patron saint of travelers. That’s important because a huge part of Puerto Rico’s economy is tourism. He was tall and strong, and known to carry people safely across rivers. One legend says that he carried a small child across a river without realizing it was Jesus Christ himself. Christopher is also the patron saint of motorists. And if you’ve ever driven or been a passenger in a car driven by a Puerto Rican in Puerto Rico, you know why you need divine protection.
But Catholicism isn’t the only religion recognized at this festival. African spiritual traditions are alive and well in Puerto Rico. One of these is the Yoruba tradition from Nigeria. In fact, if you’d like to know more, in Episode 32, Santería, we talked about how the African slaves had to disguise their religion behind Catholicism in order to survive their new environment. The two religions were syncretized, in other words blended, and became Santeria. So, in the Yoruba faith there is a main creator god and beneath that main god there are a bunch of mini-Gods called orishas. The Yoruba figured out that they could match up each orisha to a catholic saint and pretend to be worshiping the saints when they were truly worshiping their own gods, just in disguise.
One of these orishas is called Aggayú Solá, or Aganju. Aganju was a warrior. In nature, he’s a raging river. In person, he’s a warrior or a ferryman, someone who helps transport people across rivers. Because of his similarities with the aforementioned St. Christopher, they got “syncretized,” in other words matched up together. So it makes sense that they share the same feast day, July 25th.
Another orisha honored during the festivities of St. James is a female deity called Yemayá (yeh-ma-yAh). She is the mother of all living things and queen of the seas and rivers. She is matched up with the Virgin Mary in Catholicism. At the festival, you might find a young lady dressed to represent Yemaya, like in a gorgeous blue dress, maybe even mermaid-like. She may even give you beads, like in Mardi Gras. And that festive note feels like a good place to wrap it up.
Thank you for listening to the Boricuamerican podcast! Please connect with us on social media, on Insta and Facebook. Our contact info will be in the show notes. Please give us a rating and review, it helps a lot, and please tell a friend who you think might like the show! Hasta la proxima!