Thursday, December 25, 1997

Christmas back in Cuba for first time since Fidel banned observance in '69

For the first time since 1969, when the communist regime abolished the holiday, Cubans are able to celebrate Christmas.

Fidel Castro, one of the dwindling number of Cubans old enough to remember Christmas and how it was observed, has declared today a national holiday.

It would be nice to believe the aging dictator is mellowing, but his newfound appreciation of the Nativity seems suffused with self-interest. He declared Christmas a holiday at the specific request of Pope John Paul II, who will visit the island, Jan. 21-25.

The pope is a staunch opponent of the 30-year U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, which Congress recently ratcheted up. And Castro seems to believe that a successful papal visit may make his government look a little less shabby in international eyes.

However, Castro decreed that Christmas will be a one-time event and that next year, Dec. 25 will revert to dreariness as usual.

The holiday was abolished because the communist government was officially atheist, and besides, giving Cubans the day off interfered with their mandatory work bringing in the sugar harvest.

For good measure, Castro banned public Christmas displays.

Recently, Castro has eased up on religion. The Roman Catholic Church is no longer as repressed as it was. In 1991, the Communist Party became officially secular, rather than atheist, and it has opened its membership to religious believers.

The Communist Party newspaper, Granma, published a special papal message to the Cuban people, and it is publishing the pope's annual Christmas Day message.

Meanwhile, Cubans have bought out supplies of artificial Christmas trees, and the drain of decorative lights is causing power outages in Havana's rickety electrical system. Children are happily and publicly appearing in Christmas pageants.

Castro may find that, once unleashed, the Christmas spirit cannot be easily forced back into the bottle. We hope that this is only the first of increasingly merry Christmases for the Cuban people.