Region of celebration
A lesson in official holidays
Robert Edwardo
The Caribbean has more holidays and special observances than arguably any place on earth.Not only does it share many global traditions, but each island country has specialties of its own.
During a Monday in San Juan, I found the door to my bank hard to open.
After three attempts I finally realized the bank was closed.
I checked my watch, I thought about the date, and I peered through the glass. Perhaps a robbery was in progress?
I soon found myself at a nearby café sipping a cold Medallia, and decided ot ask someone why the bank was closed. After several shrugs, one person declared it was a “ bank holiday”
“What's the occasion" I asked’?
More shrugs.
The next day I visited my bank again. This times the doors were open and everything appeared back to normal.
After I made my deposit, I decided to ask the teller, why the bank had been closed the day before. “ It was a holiday” she replied.
"What was the occasion?“ I asked.
She shrugged, and turned to another teller, who shrugged some more.
Finally, she went to the back room and emerged with the bank manager.
The manager explained “ It was Jose Celso Barbosa's birthday. The bank is always closed on Jose Celso Barbosa's birthday!”
When I got home I googled “ Jose Celso Barbosa,” since I had smartly asked the bank manager to write his name down for me. I have been living in Puerto Rico for a long time and never heard of Jose Celso Barbosa.
Since his birthday is celebrated every year, he seems worthy of note, so I share this special holiday making person with you here.
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Jose Celso Barbosa , born July 27, 1857.
Dr. José Celso Barbosa, born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, was a medical doctor, sociologist, and political leader.
Barbosa received education in Puerto Rico. In 1875, he moved to New York to attend prep school where he learned the English in a year. In 1876, he was admitted to the medical school of the University of Michigan. Barbosa graduated Valedictorian of the class of 1880, and returned to Puerto Rico, where he set up his practice in his hometown.
But the Spanish government did not recognize Barbosa's medical degree because it was not from a European university.
It took the intervention of the American consul to the island for Barbosa's degree to be recognized.
Barbosa was the first person in Puerto Rico with an American medical degree.
Barbosa practiced medicine all over the island, and introduced the idea of employers paying a fee for the future health care needs of their employees.
In 1893, Barbosa founded the first Puerto Rican cooperative and named it "El Ahorro Colectivo".
. He formed the pro-statehood Puerto Rican Republican Party on July 4, 1899 as an aftermath of the Spanish-American War in which Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States.
He became known as the "Father of the Statehood for Puerto Rico" movement.
In 1900, Barbosa became a member of the Executive Cabinet up until 1917 and a member of the Senate from 1917 to 1921.
In 1907, he established the newspaper "El Tiempo", the first bilingual newspaper on the island. Jose Celso Barbosa died in San Juan in December of 1921.
Robert Edwardo is an artist and illustrator who lives in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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