Happiness in Havana? Día de Reyes as an Emotional Refuge in Colonial Cuba

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article draws on William Reddy’s framework of emotional regimes and refuges to assess marginalized emotionality in colonial Cuba and to position Día de Reyes as an important emotional refuge. Día de Reyes, or ‘Day of Kings,’ in colonial Cuba marked not only a holy day on the Catholic sacred calendar, but also a holiday for the island’s Afro-Cuban population. On this day each year, the enslaved were granted their freedom and allowed to celebrate throughout Havana. This article argues that in their observance of Day of Kings, enslaved peoples maintained a sense of identity and agency through embodied emotional performances that inverted public space and social roles. Their sanctioned celebration yielded a collective emotional experience that allowed them to rewrite normative emotion scripts and freely express indignation, happiness, pride, or sadness. The resulting refuge demonstrates the role of emotion in both wielding power and resisting it.