The Forever Festival
The San Sebastian is a popular festival that takes place on Old San Juan and San Sebastian street. The festival is where the Puerto Ricans celebrate their cultural on the streets of Puerto Rico. The festival is held every year on the third week of January. There is a lot of different traditional activities and lots of live music shows. The importance of the festival is to keep some of the Puerto Rico’s cultural traditions alive.
The original name of the San Sebastian Festival is the Fiestas de la Celle San Sebastián. The festival was started in the 1950’s by Father Juan Manuel Madrazo he was the priest of the San Jose Church. The purpose of the festival was to raise money to help repair several catholic churches and to show respect to the life of Saint Sebastian who was martyred because of his faith..Juan Madrazo decided to start festivities similar to the ones done to Fiestas Patronales in other towns of Puerto Rico. The festival started off as a parade with a few musician “The first festival was not that great and it didn’t last long,” said by Rafeal Ortiz who is a resident of Puerto Rico (phone interview). The Festival was held for a few years than father Juan was moved out of
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Dona Rafaela Balladares decided to revive the tradition she seeked help from her neighbors to volunteer help get the festivities back started. The San Sebastian Festival was revived and has been celebrated every year for four day in January. The Festival is still held on the same very narrow street, Old San Juan st. and thousands of people fill that street up to enjoy food music drinks and lots of entertainment. “Its basically the Puerto Ricans version of New Orleans Mardi Gras without the breast and beads,” said by Rafeal Ortiz a who is a resident of Puerto Rico (phone interview