Every November, Moca hosts the Festival del Mundillo. The program includes handicraft exhibitions, lace-making demonstrations, live music, and a fashion show focused on lace. The various events showcase different aspects of Mundillo: handicrafts are exhibited, lace-making is demonstrated, and lace is the focus of a fashion show. This gives you the opportunity to discover Moca through a tradition that is not limited to a single perspective.
The Museo del Mundillo also preserves unique Mundillo pieces. In addition, it offers Mundillo workshops for groups of all ages. The collection and workshops have different emphases: one focuses on preserved pieces, the other on engaging with Mundillo as a group. Together with the demonstrations and exhibitions at the November festival, they offer a multifaceted picture of Moca’s textile culture. If you would like to include the festival in your travel plans, check the event dates in advance.
Haciendas and Agricultural Change
Hacienda Labadie combines architectural history with a change in agriculture. The estate was designed by French architect Paul Servajean in the 19th century and completed in 1905. It once covered more than 1,200 acres. After the Spanish-American War, Hacienda Labadie shifted from coffee cultivation to a thriving sugar plantation. Its design, completion, former size, and change in crops shed light on different chapters in the estate’s history.
Hacienda Enriqueta offers another historical perspective: it was the only sugar mill built in Moca. This brings two distinct aspects together: the shift from coffee to sugar cultivation at Hacienda Labadie and the history of a sugar mill built in Moca. These names refer to separate historical accounts and can be viewed as different ways into the local history of haciendas and agriculture.
Church and Clock
A description published on October 26, 2021, says that Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Monserrate y San Juan Nepomuceno is more than three centuries old. Its clock also draws attention to a specific historical detail: it is described as a masterpiece of 19th-century French engineering. The church and clock thus represent two different historical perspectives: the building’s description as being of great age and the recognition of the clock.
Puerto Rico: Archaeological Sites and Artifacts
In the broader destination of Puerto Rico, Parque Ceremonial Indígena Caguana is located in Utuado. It is considered one of the most significant Taíno archaeological sites in the Antilles. Several bateyes, ceremonial plazas where ceremonies, dance rituals, and ball games known as batos were once held, are located at the center of the park. The park also displays petroglyphs, ceramic pieces, and other limestone artifacts made by the Indigenous population in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Another archaeological site in the broader destination of Puerto Rico is Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes in Ponce. It is considered a significant Taíno archaeological site on Puerto Rico’s south coast. The museum there displays weapons, ceramic artifacts, and figures representing deities, known as cemíes. While the information about Caguana includes ceremonial plazas, past rituals, and displayed artifacts, Tibes also draws attention to weapons and figures known as cemíes.
Discover more destinations: Moca, Vieques, San Sebastián, Guayama, Adjuntas, Barranquitas, Naguabo, Aguadilla.
For the broader travel overview: Puerto Rico.
