Puerto Rico Constitution Day commemorates the day when Governor Luis Muñoz Marín signed the first Puerto Rican Constitution into law on July 25, 1952. The Puerto Rican Constitution is especially important because the U.S. Constitution does not apply in Puerto Rico.
Even though we are not independent, the day is sort of Puerto Rican Independence Day. It’s as close to independence as we’ve gotten. We almost got free from the Spanish in 1898, but then the Americans came and we haven’t been free since.
Anyway, the weekend around July 25 is a great time to visit Puerto Rico. There are lots of events, both touristic and cultural. In 2022, the Fiesta de San Juan celebrated 500 years since the city’s founding.
July 25 is an official holiday in Puerto Rico. The date has many special meanings:
- July 25 Loíza Aldea celebrates Las Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol, an African Diaspora tradition with Taíno influences. It’s one of the most beautiful patron saint festivals in Puerto Rico, and is also a festival of Bomba Puertorriqueña, the African Diaspora drum, song and dance tradition that has become an icon of Puerto Rican identity. Santiago Apóstol is also celebrated in Aibonito, Fajardo, Guánica, and Santa Isabel.
- July 25 is the Feast of St James (Santiago Apóstol), the patron saint of Spain, Guatemala and small towns across the Latin world.
- July 25 is a day to honor Aggayú Solá, orisha of powerful flowing forces of nature. The Yoruba and Vodun faiths are very alive in Puerto Rico, and the island sits on the intersection of the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. When the plates flow, we have earthquakes.
- July 25 is the Feast of St Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. Part of the Puerto Rican economy is based on tourism.
- July 25, 1898 ~ The United States invaded Spanish Puerto Rico in the southern town of Guánica in Yauco. Nobody celebrates that any more, but burying the date under all these other celebrations has its own meaning.
- July 25, 2019 ~ #RickyRenuncia, The long-awaited resignation of Ricardo Rosselló, the unpopular 12th Governor of Puerto Rico, was finally confirmed.
In the Latin world, there are often parallel universes of Indigenous, European and African traditions if you know how to read them. To be Puerto Rican is to be all of the above from the Indigenous Taíno, to the first colonizer and to the last colonizer. ¡WEPA! 🇵🇷
