The origin of the Fiestas de la Santa Cruz dates back to May 2, 1787, when a great earthquake struck Puerto Rico, on the eve of the feast of the invention (=finding) of the Holy Cross. Since that time began this custom in our Puerto Rican people, which was very popular in the nineteenth century. Although there are vestiges of festivities in honor of the Cross in Spain, the way it is celebrated in Puerto Rico is autochthonous.
These festivities consist -essentially- of 19 canticles sung before an altar presided over by a cross without Christ, beautifully adorned with flowers and ribbons (as we will expand on later). The authorship of these canticles is unknown, although they are probably descended from medieval motets. The chants are only known in Puerto Rico, with the exception of one refrain (the fifth canticle): Sweetest Virgin...), which has been found in Mexico. All in all, we can affirm that the songs of these Fiestas de Cruz are typical of the Island of Enchantment.
Although it is not known who composed these songs, it is known who compiled, recorded and disseminated one of the many existing versions of these songs, perhaps the most popular of all. It was Augusto Coen, from Ponce, who in the middle of the 20th century carried out this singular task of perpetuating on paper for the first time in history the melodies of these songs.
Although they are usually called Rosarios a la Santa Cruz or Rosarios de Cruz we are not talking about the Catholic rosary meditating the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, with their Our Fathers, Hail Marys and "Gloria al Padre", because there is no record in the Puerto Rican tradition of the insertion of the traditional rosary in the Fiestas de Cruz, or that these festivities consisted exclusively of one or several traditional rosaries. The "roses" of this "rosary" are not the Hail Marys, but these canticles in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Cross, Jesus Christ and the month of May. The Rosaries to the Holy Cross are one of the three types of "rosarios cantaos" of the Puerto Rican-Catholic piety, according to Francisco López Cruz, namely: that of the deceased (on the occasion of anniversaries of the departure of loved ones or at the end of the novenarios of these rosaries); that of promises made to some Marian devotion or to some saint (e.g. to the Virgin of Carmen, to the Three Holy Kings, etc.); and those of the Cross of May.
Although each community has its own way of celebrating the Fiestas de Cruz, there are elements that are common to all the places where they are celebrated. The Fiestas de Cruz are celebrated at night (even today, according to a stanza: Most Holy Cross / I sing to you no more / tomorrow night / will sing to you). It was traditionally celebrated inside or in the courtyard of a house. It was rarely celebrated in a public square or in a church, as is done in some places today. Originally the Fiestas de Cruz were a "novenario", as they were sung for nine consecutive nights, so the decoration included nine steps representing these nine nights (The nine drawers / of the Holy Cross / are the steps / of the Child Jesus.). The steps were adorned with ribbons and flowers, headed by a single cross, also beautifully decorated. Today there are few places that celebrate the novena. per se; In many places they celebrate a "triduo" (or three consecutive nights of Fiestas de Cruz) or a single night. Even today it is customary to have one or two breaks to entertain those present with typical refreshments: gofio, sweet rice, cookies, milky sweets (or orange, coconut or sesame), coffee, agualoja, chocolate, etc., according to the customs of the community. The traditional thing was that a person was the hostess with the entertainment of some of the nights of Fiestas de Cruz, so from the first to the eighth night the ceremony of "echar la capia" was carried out, that is to say, to choose who would be the godfather of the following night. In some places this "ceremony" consisted of improvising a "copla" to the person being sponsored, such as the one recorded by Francisco López Cruz:
Antonia Vega
was the capiade;
arroz con dulce,
sweet and orange.
In other places a flower was placed on the selected person. In many places the festivities concluded with a dance that lasted until dawn.
The songs of these celebrations are traditionally antiphonal: 1 or 2 singers sing the verses and the people sing the refrain. If there are 2 singers, they usually sing with voices. Typical instruments are usually used. In Ponce, the town that has most cultivated the Fiestas de Cruz, it was customary to use orchestral instruments, such as the flute and the violin. It was tradition to include other instruments in the novena noche, such as clarinets, saxophones and/or trumpets. The most common instruments in any place where these rosaries are sung are the guitar and the Puerto Rican cuatro.
What rhythms predominate in these rosaries? The festive march, the guaracha and, above all, the waltz. Of the 19 songs that make up the Fiestas de Cruz, 11 are waltzes, 2 are festive marches, 4 are guarachas. The first 2 songs resort to the fermatas and the rubato producing a free rhythm with a somewhat peculiar elongation of notes and measures.
The Fiestas de Cruz are celebrated in the month of May, the month in which the ancient feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross was celebrated (May 3), a month that Catholic tradition dedicates to the Virgin Mary. The Fiestas de Cruz synthesize these three elements, the Holy Cross, the Virgin Mary and the month of May, the main themes of the canticles. Of the 19 canticles, 7 are dedicated to the Holy Cross, 7 to the Virgin Mary and 3 to the month of May, 1 to the Passion of the Lord and 1 which is an invocation to God against evil.
The Fiestas de Cruz are exposed to the modern and technological world, and are in danger of languishing before the incipient generation of Puerto Ricans. It is certainly not common for these Fiestas to be promoted by our municipalities (except for Bayamón or some other), who no longer speak of "patronal fiestas", but rather of "town fiestas"; it is the Catholic communities of the younger generations who have been in charge of keeping this centennial tradition alive. Hopefully these Rosaries to the Holy Cross will continue to be a spiritual source for this generation and those that will come after, thus preserving our Catholic traditions that we as a believing people have forged.
