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Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.300.1, Connecticut Historical S ...
Fiestas de Loíza, 1998
Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.300.1, Connecticut Historical Society, Copyright Undetermined

Fiestas de Loíza, 1998

Sponsor
Date1998 July 11
Mediumslides
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.300.1-.19
DescriptionPhotographs of Fiestas de Loíza held at Long Wharf, New Haven, 1998.

2015.196.300.1-.4: Slides showing Menen Osorio with her bomba dance group, in procession at the festival

2015.196.300.5: Slide showing people in the procession with the banner reading “Bienvenidos Fiesta de Loiza”

2015.196.300.6: Slide showing bomba dancers in the procession

2015.196.300.7: Slide showing display of vejigante masks

2015.196.300.8: Slide showing Menen Osorio and man enacting St. James' horse, in procession

2015.196.300.9: Slide showing drummers

2015.196.300.10: Slide showing musicians in a truck in the procession

2015.196.300.11: Slide showing capoeirista Efraim Silva, Brazilian artist who performed at the festival

2015.196.300.12: Slide showing display of vejigante masks

2015.196.300.13: Slide showing Apostol Santiago banner

2015.196.300.14: Slide showing festival attendee

2015.196.300.15: Slide showing festival banner reading “F.L.E.C.H.A.S 1977 thru 1998 A Puerto Rican Expression of Three Cultures”

2015.196.300.16: Slide showing a vejigante mask attached to pickup truck’s grill , in procession

2015.196.300.17: Slide showing bomba dancers in the procession

2015.196.300.18: Slide showing bomba dancer, possibly Menen Osorio

2015.196.300.19: Slide showing display of vejigante masks
NotesSubject Note: Flechas Inc was a long running Puerto Rican arts, culture and advocacy organization based in New Haven, developed in 1977 by Menen Osorio and others who came from Loiza, as do many in the New Haven Puerto Rican community. They organized an annual festival beginning in 1978 – Fiestas de Loiza En Connecticut Honor al Apostol Santiago - celebrating the festival held in Loiza, Puerto Rico, that commemorated St. James (Apostol Santiago) defeating the Moors in Spain. In this festival, both in Loiza and in New Haven, folk dances featuring costumed vejigante dancers were a major element of the presentation. Many of the most prominent Puerto Rican musicians in Connecticut and nearby performed over the years. Loiza is a town on the north coast of Puerto Rico with strong African-influenced traditions from its roots in the sugar cane industry and the culture of its enslaved people. Flechas devoted its work to educating audiences about the African heritage of Puerto Rico.

Flechas also held educational events throughout the year in New Haven, such as the Commemoration of the 1873 Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico and performances by the group’s Folkloric Bohio Dance Troupe. Lydia Perez of Yoruba II bomba y plena group also performed often at the Festival, and she was a mentor to Menen Osorio’s dance troupe in 1998-1999 under the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.


Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this event and these artists.


Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
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