... a bouquet of flowers and a flag ...
Cubans in the Caribbean island of Barbados, sports coaches, Cuban nationals residents there and Cuban diplomats gathered at the premises where Cuban coaches reside to pay a tribute to the Apostle of the Independence of Cuba, José Martí Pérez sitting in chairs around a table to form a choir around a portrait of the Apostle, a bouquet of simple flowers and our national flag.
The simple ceremony proceeded with the reading by each of the participants of a number of original phrases of the Apostle, many of them known to all Cubans, but which as a whole helped us identify how Marti with his independentist preaching and his proud recognition of our nationality, instilled in each of us our own identities as Cubans.
Then some of the participants remembered moments and anecdotes of the life and cultural heritage that Martí bequethed to us. In the end we celebrated the joy of his birthday like that of the child who once was our Martí, who had planted us a Homeland for all of us. How? by sharing a cake and soft drinks and hugs among all present, living the joy of being Cuban.