Celebrating the colonial nation in San Germán's Patron Saint Festivities, 1950s

This work addresses the question of how the patron saint festivities in San Germán Puerto Rico, focusing primarily on its annual programs, assisted in the reconstruction of the Puerto Rican nation during the 1950s. Particularly, I focus on how community leaders through these programs reproduced ideas of nationhood based on hispano-centric, white, Catholic, and patriarchal parameters. I investigate how an activity that is perceived to be cultural/religiously oriented has been also used to filter political agendas that legitimized a colonial relationship, while at the same time celebrating a unique collective regional and national identity.