Celebrating Saint Barbara in Cuba
Photo Feature by Idania Cardenas
HAVANA TIMES – Barbara de Nicomedia, known as Saint Barbara, was a Christian virgin and martyr of the 3rd century. She was born in Nicomedia, near the Sea of Marmara, in the early 3rd century. She was the daughter of Dioscorus, who locked her in a castle to prevent her from marrying so young and to prevent her from becoming a Christian.
During her imprisonment she had teachers who taught her poetry and philosophy, among other subjects. With her father absent from her, Barbara converted to Christianity and sent a message to Origen, considered a scholar of the Christian Church, to come and educate her in the Christian faith.
After her baptism she ordered a third window to be built in her room, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. When her father arrived, she declared herself a Christian and opposed the marriage that he had proposed for her, saying that she chose Christ as her husband.
King Dioscorus himself, her father, sent her to the court where the judge handed down a sentence of the death penalty by beheading. Her father was the one who beheaded her on the top of a mountain, after which lightning struck him, killing him as well.
Her cult was confirmed by Saint Pius V in 1568 and she became one of the fourteen holy helpers of the Santoral. In Cuba, the celebration of Santa Bárbara, and that of Changó, are observed on December 4th under the same celebration, this due to the transculturation between the Catholic and Yoruba religions that occurred in the Afro-Cuban population during the colonial era.
The devotees of Saint Barbara celebrate: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, Priestly Orders.
