After such a disastrous 2021 around the world and, in particular in Cuba, it was not surprising that many wanted to set it on fire on its last day.
The pandemic and the economic crisis marked the year just ended on the island, and prompted many to celebrate with enthusiasm in its closing hours and to put more effort than ever to one of the traditions for the date: symbolically burning the old year.
Of course, it was not exactly 2021 that the flames consumed, but a doll that represented it. Or, actually, many dolls, made of cloth or wadding, stuffed with newspapers, dressed in ragged clothes, with a cap or hat, a cigar and the bottle that cannot be absent at New Year’s Eve parties. And this time, in addition, and like the previous year, also with a face mask, although some undisciplined effigies did without that garment.
From one tip of the island to the other, not a few families and neighborhoods enjoyed the process. First, assemble the rag doll; then, place it where it would be burned and even accompany it for a while and take a picture with it; and, finally, set it on fire as a liberating and festive exercise, a very Cuban exorcism against all the demons of the old year.
Seeing the doll burn in those last minutes is then an invocation of good wishes and vibes for the year that begins, a clamor of favorable omens more than understandable now, after a 2021 full of difficulties. The fire is, then, an act of cleaning similar to throwing a bucket of water into the street at that very moment, another tradition from which many could not escape this time.
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It is now 2022 and as the months go by we will see how propitious the symbolic burning of its predecessor finally was, how effective the flames were this time. But, even when the year brings the end of the pandemic and the face masks, as we all wish, and is also accompanied by other good things, on its last day more than one doll will burn in its name. Although perhaps — we hope — they are not celebrated with as much enthusiasm as they are now.
