Ciales, Puerto Rico facts for kids

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Ciales, Puerto Rico

Municipio de Ciales

Horse-back riding in Ciales barrio-pueblo

Flag	Coat of arms

Nicknames:

See below

Anthem: "El cantar de tus ríos es mensaje"

Map of Puerto Rico highlighting Ciales Municipality

Founded

June 24, 1820

Barrios

9 barrios

Ciales barrio-pueblo
Cialitos
Cordillera
Frontón
Hato Viejo
Jaguas
Pesas
Pozas
Toro Negro

Area

• Total

66.48 sq mi (172.17 km²)

• Land

66 sq mi (172 km²)

• Water

0.07 sq mi (.17 km²)

Population

(2020)

• Total

16,984

• Rank

65th in Puerto Rico

• Density

255.494/sq mi (98.647/km²)

Cialeños

UTC−4 (AST)

00638

787/939

Major routes

Ciales (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsjales], local pronunciation: [ˈsjaleʔ]) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Ciales Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Toponym
History
Geography
Demographics
Tourism
- Landmarks and places of interest
Culture
- Festivals and events
- Sports
Economy
- Agriculture
Symbols
Transportation
Notable people from Ciales
Gallery
See also

Toponym

Sources diverge on the origin of the Ciales name. Nineteenth-century historian Cayetano Coll y Toste stated that it was named as such by then-governor Gonzalo de Aróstegui Herrera in honor of General Luis de Lacy, who had gone against Ferdinand VII's absolutist wishes. Coll y Toste suggested that the Villa Lacy name came from the anagram "es-la-cy" anagram.

Other sources, such as Manuel Álvarez Nazario and Luis Hernández Aquino, put forward the theory that it comes from the plural of cibales, plural form of ciba, meaning "stony place" or "place of stones" in Taíno, which "had undergone loss of the intervocalic -b- and the addition of the Spanish suffix referring to place -al." Lisa Cathleen Green-Douglass, who carried out a study of toponymics in Puerto Rico and compared both theories, believed the latter to be most plausible since Coll y Toste, per Green-Douglass, must have defined an anagram as a reversal of syllables and the resulting "Cial" or "Cyal" would have to then be made plural.

Yet others believe it originates from the Spanish sillar (meaning "carved stones") in reference to the stones carved by the Río Grande de Manatí's currents.

History

Ciales was founded on June 24, 1820 by Isidro Rodríguez.

Geography

Toro Negro Forest Reserve
Rivers are: Río Cialitos, Río Grande de Manatí, Río Toro Negro, and Río Yunes.
Zip Code 00638

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1900	18,115	—
1910	18,398	1.6%
1920	20,730	12.7%
1930	20,492	−1.1%
1940	22,906	11.8%
1950	19,464	−15.0%
1960	18,106	−7.0%
1970	15,595	−13.9%
1980	16,211	3.9%
1990	18,084	11.6%
2000	19,811	9.5%
2010	18,782	−5.2%
2020	16,984	−9.6%
U.S. Decennial Census 1899 (shown as 1900) 1910-1930 1930-1950 1960-2000 2010 2020

Ciales has one of the lowest percentages of English speakers in Puerto Rico.

When researching the town's parochial baptismal records historian Fernando Picó found that more than half the offspring baptised at the end of the nineteenth century were born out of wedlock.

Tourism

To stimulate local tourism, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company launched the Voy Turistiendo ("I'm Touring") campaign, with a passport book and website. The Ciales page lists Museo Juan Antonio Corretjer, Puente Mata de Plátano, and Cascada Las Delicias, as places of interest.

Landmarks and places of interest

Coffee Museum, Ciales, Puerto Rico

Places of interest in Ciales include:

Artesanía en Muebles La Cialeña, family-owned factory that produces widely recognized enea grass-weaved furniture
Aserrado Fernando Otero, located in Hato Viejo, it is the largest sawmill in Puerto Rico of native woods.
Hacienda Carvajal, environmental education coffee and cacao farm that also houses a printing museum and a batey.
Hacienda Negrón
Las Archillas Cave
Las Golondrinas Cave
Yuyú Cave
Parada Choferil
Toro Negro Forest Reserve
Paseo Lineal Juan Antonio Corretjer, a lookout
Museo Biblioteca Casa Corretjer, houses the library of Juan Antonio Corretjer.
Museo del Café, a coffee museum

Young people horse-back riding in Ciales, Puerto Rico

Culture

Festivals and events

Ciales celebrates its patron saint festival in October. The Fiestas Patronales de Nuestra Señora del Rosario y San Jose is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. The festival has featured live performances by well-known artists such as Sabor Latino.

Other festivals and events celebrated in Ciales include:

Three King's Day, held in January
Corretjer Cantata, held in March
Fresh Water Festival (in Spanish: Festival de Agua Dulce), mud bogging competition and music festival held in August
Frontón Festival, held in July
Saint Elías Festival, held in July

Sports

Ciales is the home town of Juan "Pachín" Vicens - Puerto Rico's national basketball star, named Best Player in the World at the 1959 World Basketball Championship, Santiago de Chile (a.k.a., Juan "Pachín" Vicens, "Astro del Balón", "El Jeep"; younger brother of Puerto Rico's National Poet, Nimia Vicens, who also hailed from Ciales). Their middle brother, Enrique "Coco" Vicens, a former Puerto Rico Senator, was a track and field athlete in his own right.

Economy

Agriculture

The Ciales economy has always depended heavily on agriculture, especially coffee products, minor fruits (such as lettuce) and dairy production.

Symbols

The municipio has an official flag and coat of arms. On the 150th anniversary of the founding of Ciales, the flag and coat of arms were adopted with Resolution No. 13 Series 1969–1970, sanctioned by Don Ismael Nazario, who was mayor at the time.

Flag

The flag is divided into seven unequal stripes described in sequence: yellow, red, yellow, purple, yellow, red, and yellow.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms consists of a gold shield with a lion standing on its rear legs and silverplated nails grasping a silver coiled parchment between its front claws. The lion also shows a red tongue. Above the lion in the superior part of the shield are located three heraldic roses arranged horizontally with red petals and green leaves. A golden crown of three towers rests on the shield. The three towers are united by walls, simulating masonry blocks. The shield is surrounded by a crown of coffee tree branches with their berries, all in natural colors.

Nicknames

Town of the Brave (Pueblo de los valerosos) for the high concentration of independence supports, such as Juan Antonio Corretjer, some of which participated in the Grito de Lares.
Cradle of Poets (Cuna de poetas) due to it being the birthplace of several poets, such as Juan Antonio Corretjer and Nimia Vicéns, both considered Puerto Rico's national poets.
Central Cordillera Gate (Puerta de la Cordillera Central) owing to its geographic location on the Cordillera Central mountainous range.
Switzerland of Puerto Rico (Suiza de Puerto Rico) on account of "its similarity to European valleys with abundant vegetation," and the wooden houses that are located in them.

Transportation

Terminal de Carros Públicos Ciales on Calle Palmer

There is a public transportation terminal in downtown Ciales. In addition, there are 18 bridges in Ciales, including the NRHP-listed Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano.

Notable people from Ciales

Armando Carlo Asencio Rosado-barril de bomba artisan.
Edwin Avilés - singer and part of the Los Pleneros de la Cresta quintet.
Ramón Barrios - Socialist Party delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico.
Juan Antonio Corretjer - Nationalist and poet, considered the National Poet of Puerto Rico.
Ángel de Jesús Sánchez - fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
Raúl Feliciano - basketball player and lawyer.
Ed Figueroa - MLB Baseball Player
Juan Figueroa - Former-president of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut.
Antonio J. González - Puerto Rico Independence Party founder and gubernatorial candidate, Puerto Rican Union Party gubernatorial candidate, and UPRRP College of Social Sciences dean.
Jovino González Rodríguez - seven-time National Troubadour.
José Emilio González Velázquez - Politician
Luis Maldonado - Politician
Ángel Chayanne Martínez - Politician
Luis Molina Casanova [es] - Film director and scriptwriter.
Jorge Luis Morales [es] - Poet and writer
Jeyluix Ocasio - singer and part of the Los Pleneros de la Cresta quintet, brother of Joshua and Joseph Ocasio.
Joshua Ocasio - singer and part of the Los Pleneros de la Cresta quintet, brother of Jeyluix and Joseph Ocasio.
Joseph Ocasio - singer and part of the Los Pleneros de la Cresta quintet, brother of Joshua and Jeyluix Ocasio.
Mercedes Otero - Politician
Jorge L. Porras Cruz - Educator and writer, Hispanic Studies department chair at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus
Edwin Reyes [es] - Poet and writer
José L. Rivera - USMC, recipient of the Navy Cross
Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló - Politician
Juan José Rodríguez Pérez - Politician
Hiram Rosado - Nationalist
Carlos Manuel Rosario - Activist
Luis Sánchez Morales - Politician
Adalberto Santiago - Salsa singer, Tony Vega's cousin.
Arturito Santiago Labrador - singer and restaurateur, highly recognized in the jíbaro music scene.
Arturo Santiago Guzmán - four-time National Troubadour, son of Arturito Santiago Labrador.
Lisvette M. Sanz González - singer and guitar player, part of the Hermanos Sanz duo.
Luis Sanz González - singer and cuatro player, part of the Hermanos Sanz duo.
Tony Vega - salsa singer, Adalberto Santiago's cousin.
Vanessa Vélez - Volleyball player.
Enrique "Coco" Vicéns - Basketball Player
Juan "Pachín" Vicéns - Basketball Player
Nimia Vicéns - poet, proclaimed Puerto Rico's national poet by Pedro Albizu Campos.