Public Project
Black Baby Jesus was born in February
Summary
An afro-colombian community fight to maintain their roots and cultural identity through a tradition of more than 170 years.
So for Christmas, they transformed the celebration, which takes place 45 days after the traditional date of the birth of Jesus, the time it took Virgin Mary to rest after she gave birth. Quinamayó celebrates Christmas in mid-February as a form of African descendants’ cultural resistance. It is a festivity that still persists today in which the children dress up as biblical characters, the matronas -women leaders- wear their traditional dresses and people dance the juga, an autochthonous rhythm of Quinamayó.
I believe this story is important at this time, because Colombia a racist country. We grew up under the idea of "improving the race", as if Afros were a population that had to be fixed. And today, racism manifests in discriminatory remarks in the street or on social media. The inhabitants of Quinamayó fight against that by taking pride in their roots, as well as by manifesting a syncretism that invites us to reflect on our racial and cultural diversity in Colombia.
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