Wednesday, people gathered in one of the old cemeteries of Havana for the funeral of Ricardo Herrera, known as “Pachencho”.
It was a curious moment because Herrera was completely alive.
This retired mechanic, 77 years old, embodied the “death” to the delight of the inhabitants of his little corner of the island.
The “Pachencho vigil” is an annual celebration of unknown origin in Cuba, during which a resident of Santiago de Las Vegas, in the suburbs of Havana, pretended to have died.
With the reinforcement of generous quantities of rum, this year’s “pachencho” climbed into a worn coffin and has become the center of attention when it celebrated a local tradition in the small municipality.
“Many will think that I am dead, but when we leave the cemetery, we will all dance, the dead and the living,” said Herrara.
Tradition celebrates life and death – a curious mixture of celebration and spirituality that the community has transformed into a funeral simulacrum, with all the elements of a real burial.
Women embodying widows cried on Herrera, dancing to the rhythm of drums and trumpets while her body was transported through the dusty village in a carriage pulled by horses.
The inhabitants of the city await this annual event which celebrates the particular distinction of their municipality in relation to the rest of the sprawling capital, but many of them share their concerns concerning the current economic crisis in Cuba, which has made this simulacrum of burial a less important event than usual.
