The "Land of babalao“, This is how the capital municipality of Guanabacoa, in Cuba, is popularly known.
Even in Cuban colloquial language, when someone has numerous problems at the same time, the others tell them "you have to go to Guanabacoa to make a robbery of yourself."
The fact is that this Havana territory is famous for having multiple exponents of Afro-Cuban culture. Rites and traditions of the Yoruba religion enrich the very Cuban roots of those who live there.
And the strongest examples of this mixture of culture and syncretism of the locality are kept as treasures in the Guanabacoa Museum, emerged on July 26, 1964.
The institution, as the ruling legend of the municipality, is located in the headquarters of a century-old house that belonged to the Virgin's Waitress, Our Lady of the Assumption, considered Patroness of the Town.
Centennial history at the Museum of Guanabacoa
El Municipal Museum of Guanabacoa It is also one of the most popular examples of 1990th century colonial architecture in the Urban Historic Center, which is why it was declared a National Monument in XNUMX.
The institution not only shows the public pieces of important value that constitute important traces of the history of the town, but also takes a tour of the Afro-Cuban traditions present in the territory.
Also known as Yoruba Museum of Guanabacoa It is a worthy example of the transculturation between the African magical-religious forms of the Santeria of the Yoruba culture and Catholicism.
Cuban identity in Guanabacoa
El Guanabacoa Museum, gives its visitors the possibility of distinguishing how the Cuban nationality arose and how cultures were mixed to form Creole traditions that continue to this day throughout the Island.
There, you can enjoy guided educational and cultural visits, which give life to that union of customs that makes up the national heritage.
The museum also shows a gallery of religious ethnology, which includes the cults of Santeria or Regla Ocha, those of Regla de Palo Monte or Culto de Palo Monte and those of the Abakuá Secret Society, as the highest representatives of a millenary culture.
