• Submitted by: admin
• Editorial Articles
• Culture and Traditions
• 11 / 10 / 2006

The city of Moron located at the north coast of the central province of Ciego de Avila is represented by the sculpture of a big rooster. Many other values keep this place of Cuba. The architecture is a mixture of the past and present times, the elegance of its carriages, its natural jewels and of course, its history and its people.

This settlement was founded in the year 1543 when at the holding of an open meeting of the council, the Hato de Morón was granted to Don Luís de Almeida and a dump was built over a small mountain that was called Morón.

Today, from this city starts the causeway that links the Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo at the Jardines del Rey archipelago, one of the most important tourist resorts of the country. From Moron also we can get to Turiguano island, known by its cattle rising. Besides, in this land there is the Laguna de la Leche, the greatest natural water reserve of the country as well as La Redonda lake where there is an international center for the trout fishing.

Regarding the rooster, symbol of the city, its origins came from Seville, in Morón de la Frontera. It is said that at the end of the 16th Century that town was characterized by political rivalries due to the appointment of municipal authorities. One day an official came with the purpose of easing the tension and proclaiming personally in a defiant way: "Here, there is no any other rooster than myself". Some neighbors that heard him looked at each other and smiled. Soon later, a group of strangers protected by the darkness of the night surprised the mouthy intruder and gave him an unforgettable beating. The wrong idiot stayed humiliated and he was immortalized in a verse that says:
"You are like Morons Rooster,
featherless and crowing".

The Spanish that founded the Cuban Moron brought the verse and sow it among the population that is why some people attributed dual nationality to the Moron Rooster. There a sculpture to this rooster was erected in the fifties of the past century and it was inaugurated personally by the president at that time Fulgencio Batista who was declared adoptive son of the city. For this reason after the Revolution in the year 1959, the rooster was victim of the ignorance of some inhabitants who pulled it out and threw to the street although other people of greater sensitivity returned it to its throne. Nevertheless, some days later, some people from a neighboring town demolished the sculpture.

Fortunately, for Morons dwellers, the rooster was very much inside of them and it crowed again on May 2, 1982 because of a work by sculptors Rita Longa and Armando Alonso. There, it is still above its trunk, with a tower clock and amplification equipments that reproduce the crow of the bird. A tally unveiled at the base of the rooster sculpture says that this "express the fighting spirit of our people in defense of its sovereignty".