CAMAGÜEY.- The Cuban Association of Artisan Artists (ACAA) calls on the 173 members of its branch in this province to celebrate the October 20th, Cuban Culture Day, with the collective exhibition Fiesta del Güije.
Starting on the second of next month and for a week they will receive the pieces that must allude to myths, legends and figures from the imaginary of the Cuban spiritual universe such as güijes, siguapas, goblins, cagüeiros, witches and cemíes.
“Our island mythology is often dominated by humor, a rich fantasy and a superstition that, at times, can be dangerous and harmful,” artisan and writer Jaime López explained to Adelante Digital.
This researcher of the cosmogony and heritage of the Taíno, maintains that there was a great fusion between the aboriginal, the African, the Spanish and the Cuban as such. He mentions among the popular myths, those of güije or jigüe, the Mother of Waters, the cagüeiros and the Light of Yara.
“That of the jigüe or güije is the most well-known, famous and widespread myth in the country. It is believed that it was originally an Aboriginal creation and that it later received the influence of the African slave and became the black and dwarf güije that has been reflected in our arts, poetry, painting, film, television, ballet, music, etc. .”, he added.
The Camagüey-born cartoonist Ángel Velazco maintains the Kukuy saga. Much earlier, Nicolás Guillén, National Poet of Cuba, made the Ballad of the güije. In one stanza it is read: “(…) The güije is an amphibian, a siren/ That carefully hides itself in the fields/ And only reveals its dark complexion/ When an extraordinary event threatens/ Of disastrous omen to the neighborhood.”
According to Jaime López, member of the ACAA, in Cuba not much has been written about our mythology, however, moments have been recorded, for example, in the ancient region of Camagüey, “the güije throwing stones from Violeta” was sighted.
“They could give us reasons for inspiration and creative fantasy. Young people of today, nor old people of today, already know the myth of the jigüe or güije. No one sees a jigüe out there in any puddle anymore, perhaps it is already extinct, just as this legend will also be extinct,” he concluded.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez