Havana is looking forward to its 500th birthday, which will take place in 2019.

The city of Havana was originally found some 50 miles away from its present location on the south coast of Cuba. But, after years the residents tired of living in a mosquito-infested swamp and moved to the current location which had a much more pleasant situation.

In the fashion of those days, after the best spot had been chosen, a Catholic mass was held under a tree and there was then a meeting of the new town council. This marked the foundation of the city. Ever since then, at midnight on 15th November, citizens and visitors have headed to the same tree* where the city was founded, now known as El Templete.

They walk around the tree three times and make a wish for the coming year.

*tree may have been replaced once or twice in the intervening centuries…

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Join Cuban Pioneers this December for the Che Guevara Revolutionary Tour – celebrating with the Cuban people the quintessential person of the Cuban revolution, and symbol of revolutionary struggle around the world Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Click here for more information. 

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Can’t make December? Cuban Pioneers on their annual trip for the Cuban celebration of May International Workers’ Day. This is by far the biggest celebration in Cuba and something somewhere in between a Soviet-era parade and a classic Latin American carnival.

Click here for more information.