On a map of the narrow, rectangular island, it is only a small circle tucked into the northeast corner of Puerto Rico—just another village. A visitor would find it physically unremarkable, not particularly distinguishable from a hundred other such towns on the island. The dusty main street sports the usual shops—gas stations, bodegas, a pharmacy, a shoe store. There is, of course, a shady central plaza where townsfolk, singly or in small groups, think, chat, or read. And there are the churches: Saint Patrick's, the patronal iglesia that dates back to 1645; a large, new evangelical Protestant church; and the less conspicuous church of Santiago Apostol, Saint James the Apostle.
The latter, though unimposing, is more than just another church, however—it is the locus of a unique cultural tradition. For eight days each year at the end of July, the Fiesta Democratic Santiago Apostol transforms the seemingly ordinary village of Loiza, revealing it as a fascinating cultural crossroads where the native customs of three distinct civilizations are preserved and celebrated.
The fiesta, which draws revelers from around the world, has preserved in microcosm traditions of the three great cultures that comprise the Puerto Rican heritage: native Indian, Spanish, and African. Unlike the rest of the island, where these influences have tended to meld, dominated by the Spanish colonial legacy, Loiza has maintained and fiercely guarded clear remnants of each of the contributing lines—and puts them on glorious display during the fiesta.
But why Loiza? Why has this unprepossessing village become a king of living museum? The answer lies in an accident of geography and in the unpredictable twistings of history, which have bequeathed to Loiza a remarkable story and a rich inheritance.
Situated on the northeastern coast at the mouth of the Rio Grande de Loiza, Aldea—the village of Loiza (as distinguished from the larger town of Loiza, the county seat a few miles inland)—is only fifteen miles east of San Juan's Munoz International Airport. Yet those fifteen miles have historically been a highly effective buffer between the village and the ever-enlarging metropolitan area. Mostly marshland, they are still traversed by only one small beach road. And, until the early 1970s, when a bridge was built, the river could be forded only on el ancón—a huge poled raft that served as a car ferry. Earlier generations found the river crossing even more difficult. Thus, over the centuries, these conditions gave Loiza a measure of isolation that significantly influenced its cultural development.
Indian roots
River deltas, naturally, always attract settlement, and the mouth of the Loiza (originally called the Rio Cayrabon) was no exception. The cave of Maria de la Cruze in Loiza has been identified as the principal Puerto Rican site of the archaic, preceramic Indian culture whose artifacts have been found throughout the central zone of the Americas. Later, some fifteen hundred years ago, the nomadic Caribbean Indians who migrated north (eventually into Florida) settled in the Loiza area. A further wave of Indian immigrants—the Igneri, a South American tribe—moved into the Hacienda Grande area of Loiza in time and intermingled with the local population. The Igneri, excellent canoemakers, cultivators, and ceramists, were in turn supplanted by the Taino Indian
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