America and Europe in one voice

A group of 20 children from America and Europe recited the poem “For Margarita” Dibael‘, by the Nicaraguan author Rubén Darius (1897-1916) in a video on the occasion of World Book Day, held yesterday in different countries.

The ceremony, which begins with the speech of two children from Managua, makes a geographical and linguistic tour that jumps from America to Europe, from Nicaragua, to Bolivia, passing through Haiti, touches other countries of Iberian America, and traverses Spain.

Margherita, the sea is beautiful, and the wind carries a hidden essence of orange blossom; I feel a lark sing in my soul; Your accent: Margherita, I’ll tell you a story, ‘I betrothed the city, Mestizo, and the children of the aborigines of Cachiquil, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, French, Galician, and Garifuna , Mapudongon, Miskito, and Portuguese.

Each sermon, in addition to the sound of languages, shows cultural aspects, such as traditional clothes or their homes, as well as a common characteristic: the joy of children.

The commemorative video aims to “build bridges of literature, thanks to this sequential reading, readers will be able to appreciate and listen to the different voices, dialects and indigenous languages, of different Ibero-American cultures,” said the Centroamérica Cuenta Festival, which organizes the Cervantes Prize 2017 Sergio Ramirez, exiled Nicaraguan writer In Spain.

In the video, which is 4.25 minutes long, including credits, children from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Spain, the United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua appear.
“Margarita Depaille”, inspired by the Nicaraguan girl of the same name, is one of the most famous characters of Rubén Darío, the greatest representative of literary modernity, considered the “Prince of Castilian letters”.

Said’s poem, written in 1908, was published in 1909 in the book “El viaje a Nicaragua e Intermezzo Tropical”. It also inspired the nickname “Margherita, the sea is beautiful,” for which Sergio Ramirez won the Alfaguara Award in 1998.

The video can be viewed on social networks using the hashtag #CACDiaDelLibro, or by searching for cacuenta, on YouTube under “A Margarita Debayle”, and on Centroamérica Cuenta’s Facebook wall.