Bread and Roses Festival: Culture of Protest
By Audy Ramirez
The social and cultural events promoted by the community, government, and local leaders together with people linked to the daily life of a said community, tend to be extremely important. One of the key objectives of these events is to promote said city.
On Monday, September 5, the City of Lawrence gave itself a tremendous cultural and historical banquet worthy of applause and recognition. The Bread and Roses Festival, or Festival of Bread and Roses took place that day, the same day that Labor Day, or Labor Day, is also celebrated nationally. And it is that this festival commemorates the historic strike of 1912, which had its origins and explosion in the City of Lawrence, Massachusetts, becoming a national movement.
Part of the services provided by the festival was the famous Trolley Tour, a walk through the historical places of the city. With the help of an expert on the subject as a guide, we learned details of that moment and its importance for everyone as a society. The writer had the pleasure of taking this tour and I must say that the experience was unforgettable and above all extremely informative.
In addition to passing through history, culture, and information, it is also important to emphasize the musical, gastronomic and cultural diversity that was felt, smelled, and perceived throughout the city. Just as the famous Dominican merengue highlights, La Lluvia no Daña mi Fiesta (The Rain Won’t Spoil my Party), on this occasion, once again by putting the force of nature to the test, we had the strength to correspond to the contagious stanzas of said merengue: the rain could not and the town decided to support and enjoy their festival sending a very clear message to all: When you want, you can!
The musical and gastronomic diversity was very varied. As for music, local groups had the space to promote their artistic work, as well as collaborate to liven up the party. As for gastronomy, the famous cupcakes, the Dominican quipes, and a very varied list of dishes from the different countries make up the cultural diversity of the city’s population.
As you might imagine, the local museums were open to the public at no cost. It was time to enjoy and learn at the same time.
The moral that this festival left me is simple and extremely important. The problems that generated that uprising of the working class in 1912, although today they do not represent a problem merely for us, the reality is that we still have a long way to go to achieve a more humane and egalitarian world.
The women, men, and children who fought at that time did so not perhaps thinking about future generations because the problem was directly attacking them at that time. The goal was simple: Survival. But, perhaps without thinking about it, they established a legal and social defense framework, which today we have as a weapon at our disposal. That is the true celebration and that is why the City of Lawrence once again opened up to the world.
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