BICU Cultural Historical Museum - CIDCA
In general, it is accepted that the origin of the city of Bluefields is linked to the presence on the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast of European pirates, subjects of enemy powers of Spain, who used the Hidden River to rest, repair breakdowns and get supplies and just from there derives the name of the river; By then, the territory of the current municipality was populated by the Kukra and Rama ethnic groups.
In 1602 one of these soldiers of fortune chose the Bay of Bluefields as the center of operations for its tactical advantages, the Dutch Blauveldt or Bleeveldt, and from him the name of the city is derived and by extension the current municipality.
There is consensus that black Africans appeared on the Caribbean coast from 1641, when a Portuguese ship carrying slaves was shipwrecked in the Miskito keys.
From the original settlement the bay began to be populated; British subjects broke in in 1633 and from 1666 they were already organized in colonies, which meant that by 1705 there were already constituted authorities and in 1730 the Bluefields colony became dependent on the British government of Jamaica. For this, the alliance of the English with the Miskito ethnic group was decisive, to which they provided weapons that made it easier for them to subdue the other ethnic groups on the Caribbean coast.
In 1740 the Miskitos ceded sovereignty over the territory to England, and by 1744 the transfer of English settlers from Jamaica to the Mosquitia was organized, bringing with them black slaves; in addition, French citizens were also installed. The area was a British superintendency until 1796, when England had to recognize Spain's sovereignty over the Mosquitia; English subjects left the islands, but the Spanish did not take possession of them.
The Moravian Church was installed in 1847, and in 1860 the Mosquitia Reserve was created on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, by an agreement between the English and North American governments in which our country had no part, and the English crown intervened again. putting her under his protection. The city of Bluefields was declared the capital of that reserve.
In 1894 the Nicaraguan government incorporated the Mosquitia Reserve into the national territory, extinguishing the Miskito monarchy, and on October 11, 1903 Bluefields was elevated to the rank of city and head of the Zelaya department.
Artistic expressions and manifestations
Dance
May party now
Creole people: plot role, ribbon pole, polka and waltz.
Branch town: dance of the shauda, dance of the machete.
Dance of the old nalgonas, accompanies the patronal feast of San Jerónimo, in the Creole and mestizo people.
Music
Maypole songs: "Mayaya lost the key" (Mayaya lost the key); “Sing Simon, sing my love” (Sing Simon, sing my love); “Tulululu pas under”; "Reedo reedo Mama Juka", popularized by the bluefileño group Los Bárbaros del Ritmo in 1971, with vocalist José A. Sinclair (Mango Ghost).
"Zion Send Come Call Me"; «Judith drownded» by Silvester Hodgson, a popular character from the Cotton Tree neighborhood in Bluefields, known as Tantó; "Launch Turn Over" by Silvester Hodgson.
“Heremun (hymnal) Garífuna, Garífuna people.
At traditional theater there is the "Christmas carrols" (Moravian Christmas representations).
Legends
From the Creole people / Anancy Story or Bredda Nancy: Anancy's story is of African origin and is over a thousand years old. Anancy is a very clever and cunning spider, given to compete with other beings of the animal kingdom, such as the monkey, the rabbit and the pig, whom he defeats thanks to his tricks, his cunning, his wisdom and his experience.
The stories of Anancy or Bredda Nancy are very varied, and they usually speak of the solidarity and friendship that should reign among friends in the face of the adversities of destiny.
Legend of the hidden treasure: according to the elders, this legend dates back to historical events of the seventeenth century, when pirates hid in Bragman's Bluff, near what is now the La Bocana spa, a gold booty that they stole from the Spanish.
Other legends mentioned are
Garífuna people / The abandonment of Ibo Point: There was a man from Ibo Point who had done a lot of damage there in Honduras. So they sent a spirit to kill him. This spirit had the virtue of appearing in the form of a tiger or a monkey. On one occasion, when the bad man was lying in a hammock, the monkey-shaped spirit came and urinated on him. It took a few hours for man to die.
The frightened people decided to leave the community and went to San Vicente. One by one they left Ibo Point and they never returned, because they said that that evil spirit lived there. There they have a pantheon of their first relatives.
History of John Sambola and Miriam Blandón: grandparents always tell the story of the love life of Orinoco founder John Sambola. They say that John once went out with his brothers to hunt animals. During this outing, John did not find a keel, a cusuco, or a wild pig, only a wild woman, which he caught and took to the community. The woman only covered her private parts and buttocks; everything else was exposed.
For a time they stayed together and had children, but then the woman — who said her name was Miriam Blandón — decided to share her life with another man. Then John, following custom, brought the woman before the Miskitu chief in Pearl Lagoon, so that he could decide what the punishment would be for the transgressive couple. The chief ruled that Miriam Blandón and her lover should be whipped.
The spirit of the waters: Toño used to fish in a cayuco in the Pearl Lagoon. He fished at night in a place called Lauba. One night when he was in his canoe, he heard a noise and looked at an approaching object, it looked like a large candle. He heard a voice asking him to warn the people on the shore not to throw garbage in his house. Toño asked: "Who is speaking to me?", And the voice replied: "I am the one who takes care of all these waters." Then Toño got scared and rushed out to tell what had happened to him.
Wood crafts
Branch people / La turmaala: they say that the Turmaala was an indigenous branch with supernatural powers. He had the gift of communicating with animals and gods, and in this way he managed to warn of the bad or the good that could happen to his people.
Legend of the mermaid (Sea maid): they talk about a girl who was very rebellious and disobedient to her parents, and who did not pay attention to what the elderly people told her. And it happened that one Good Friday the girl heard that they said that Holy Week is to be kept and that no work should be done in the fields and that no one should bathe in rivers, seas or lagoons, because they would become fish. Then she, curious and disobedient, wanted to go bathe in the river. They saw her take a dip, but she never came out again and no one heard from her again, because she was turned into a mermaid or the woman in the water.
Adam on the Indian River: When Adam, the first man to walk on earth, was walking along the Indian River, south of Rama Cay, he realized that there was a huge variety of animals, and he thought that he had to give them all names. Today it says that on the river there are traces of Adam's passage over these lands (narrated by Sixto Solomon, Sumu Kaat community).
Other legends of this town: The stingray story in Kukra river, The stredora Palm Hill Story and Ulak or Sisimico.
Local figures who have contributed to the history and culture of the town
Vincent Ivy Elizabeth Forbes (Miss Lizzie Nelson): He was born in Bluefields on December 11, 1922, in the Punta Fría neighborhood, near the old Moravian Cemetery. Since the 50s, as a teacher, she devoted herself to teaching the traditional dances of the Caribbean coast, especially the dances of palo de payo and palo enintado, adopting the stage name of Miss Lizzie Nelson.
Anthony Mathews
She is called the "Cultural Ambassador of the Caribbean" in recognition of her contribution to the preservation of the ancestral culture of the Creoles.
June Beer: Born in 1935 in Bluefields, she is one of the most prominent exponents of primitivist painting in Nicaragua. In homage to this Nicaraguan painter, the X Nicaragua Biennial was exhibited, organized by the Ortiz-Gurdián Foundation at the National Palace of Culture. He passed away in 1986.
Hugo Sujo: He was born in the blufileño neighborhood of Punta Fría, in 1932. He is one of the main characters of Bluefields, author of the book “Oral History of Bluefields”. He was director of the Autonomous Foundation for the Development of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (FADCANIC).
Abruey Campbell: is the founder of the Scout movement in Nicaragua in 1917. When reading a magazine of the Boys Scout of the United States, he wrote to this organization to organize the first scout troop, called “Moravian”, today “Grupo Scout 1 Moravo”.
Lizandro Chavez Alfaro: came to the world in Bluefields on October 25, 1929. He was a notable Nicaraguan writer, poet, and essayist. His work is considered one of the main ones in the Nicaraguan and Central American contemporary narrative.
With the book of stories "Los monos de San Telmo" he won the Casa de las Américas Prize in 1963, this book is an X-ray of the Nicaraguan reality of the first half of the 09th century. He died in Managua on April 2006, XNUMX.
Davis Hogdson: Outstanding manager and deep connoisseur of Nicaraguan baseball, he has managed to win championships with different teams.
Anthony Mathews: Caribbean music singer from Nicaragua, with more than 50 years of artistic career. He stands out for having contributed to the dissemination of coastal music nationally and internationally, leading the famous musical group "Dimensión Costeña".
Other sites of historical and cultural interest
Historical Cultural Museum of the BICU-CIDCA: inaugurated on August 31, 2006. It exhibits to the public photos of people from the region between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, photos of colonial structures existing in the region, navigation and diving equipment dating from the beginning of the XNUMXth century, musical instruments from the XNUMXth century. XNUMXth century utensils (ceramics and glass) from the XNUMXth century, office and home equipment dating from the mid XNUMXth century and another range of objects of great historical interest from the region. It is in the Punta Fría neighborhood.
Monument to the Different Ethnicities: in Parque Reyes, in front of the municipal building. Dolmen to the six ethnic groups of the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast.
Monkey Point Archaeological Site, Concheros: in Angie, in Monkey Point, the oldest evidence of the presence of man in the national territory has been found, approximately 7,600 years old.
These ancestors extracted from the Caribbean Sea, shells or mollusks for their consumption; These shells were deposited in special places called "concheros", communal garbage dumps in which the shells and all kinds of waste were thrown away.
Crafts
There is a great variety of crafts in the municipality, identified by the indigenous people or Afro-descendant community.
Making musical instruments: horse jaw, shake-shake (jícaro maracas), the wash tub (wash tub), grater with fork, grater, tortoise shell, horse jaw, picona bird beak, flute and bungo in the Creole people.
Moravian Christmas Stars, on cardboard, by the Creole people.
Manufacture of Garifuna kitchen instruments: eggi (grater), ibisi (strainer), ruguma, woula (juicer), hana and maata.
Drum making, in the Garífuna people.
Production of kitchen instruments: kiskis, wabul stick, pots and greta in the rama town.
Bows and arrows in the Rama town.
Making instruments for fishing: boats and harpoons in the Creole, Garífuna and Rama people.
Black coral-based jewelery, with gold applications.
Filigree jewelery, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and miracles.
Rosewood Wood Sculptures
Visit the handicraft workshops where these pieces made by coastal hands are made, which you can admire and if you prefer to buy. They are in the urban area.
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