Bando. Don Miguel de Ochoa y Benitez, Alcalde Municipal de Esta Villa. Con Objeto de Dar Mayor Expansion y Regocijo Este Año a los Habitantes de Esta Poblacion... [caption title]

Guanabacoa, 1888. About very good.. Broadside, approximately 12 x 17 inches. Previously folded. Contemporary manuscript rubric and small ink stamp. small patch of ink burn, causing separation along rubric line. A few tiny wormholes, slightly affecting text. Light tanning, minor foxing. An otherwise unrecorded, 19th-century Cuban broadside decree, announcing the rules for celebrations in Guanabacoa during "las fiestas de su Patrona," taking place on August 14 & 15, 1888. The patron saint of Guanabacoa, then a small town just outside Havana and now an outlying district of the city, is Our Lady of the Assumption, and August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption. This broadside prints eight articles, the first of which allow games and "diversiones públicas," but prohibit games of chance and gambling of any kind, and authorize the erection of food and drink stalls in public places that do not impede public traffic. Permission must be obtained from the municipal magistrates for balls and parties in private houses; shooting guns, rockets, and fireworks is still strictly forbidden, but the lighting of torches is allowed during the saint's procession. Other rules regulate vehicular traffic, cafés and restaurants, horse races, ball games, and theatrical performances. A very interesting document of municipal regulation for popular religious events in Cuba during the late-19th century.