San Cristóbal, the last of the seven settlements founded by Cuba’s first Governor, Diego Velásquez, is celebrating yet another birthday.

Aptly christened the "leaping settlement", the colony was first a small village, then a villa and, later, a city. It was initially established in the south, near Batabanó. Later, its inhabitants set off in search of more auspicious lands. Historians refer to settlements near the area now known as Puentes Grandes, at the estuary of the Almendáriz river (today Almendares), its location prior to finding its definitive resting ground in 1519, near the bay area.

The city's 492nd anniversary - the 16th of November - has been welcomed with numerous festivities that gather multitudes in squares, parks and pleasant milieus, where buildings of diverse styles and from different time periods harmoniously come together. A kind of feverish merriment is in the air, as could be appreciated last Tuesday, at 6 in the afternoon, when the traditional pilgrimage from the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales set off for the Templete, where the city’s first mass and meeting of the city council took place.

In the shade of Cuba's most venerated tree, Havana Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler addressed emotive words to Havana, a city he insists is for him, and for all of us, "an immense expanse of memory." Moments later, hundreds of city residents and visitors took part in one of the most deeply-rooted of the city's traditions: they walked around the legendary silk-cotton tree, in silence, three times and, embracing the tree, asked San Cristobal, Havana's patron saint, to grant them three wishes.

The area once governed by Chief Habaguanex is today a live space that renews itself and continues to capture visitors with its majestic structures, where every step is suffused with a poetry that intoxicates all visitors. The city historian calls on us to recover, as much as possible, the city's former splendor: "I am fascinated by the dignity of an aging Havana, made beautiful by time, made enchanting by its pride."

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