``Silent night! Holy night!'' blue-robed choir members sang Tuesday night, holding flickering candles as they stood in rows on the steps of the baroque-style cathedral.
A largely Roman Catholic crowd of several hundred crowded the plaza for the concert, held in hopes of recapturing the religious roots of Christmas as the nation prepares to celebrate it as a permanent holiday.
The government granted a Christmas holiday last year as a one-time favor to Pope John Paul II before his January visit, and decided last month to make it permanent.
``It's fabulous!'' said Sister Ileana Suarez, 34, a Cuban nun. ``I've never seen anything like it in my lifetime.
``And no one has seen anything like it on Cuban soil in 40 years,'' she added, referring to the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power four decades ago this Jan. 1.
The concert, the first of three the Catholic church will offer this holiday season, began with a procession that drew squeals of delight as it moved through the center of the crowd.
A small girl of about 5 portrayed Mary, the mother of Jesus. Dressed all in white, she rode sidesaddle on a white baby donkey, led by a similarly small boy portraying Joseph, her husband.
A children's choir soon took the stage, singing several holiday tunes including a Spanish version of ``Jingle Bells,'' accompanied by jangling tambourines.
But the central attraction was the adult choir, which performed during the main papal Mass in Havana nearly a year ago.
``Joy to the world! The Lord is come!' the choir sang, voices swelling in the still, tropical air. ``Let Earth receive its king!''
The most popular rendition by far was the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's ``Messiah,'' which drew a standing ovation.
Afterward, people in the crowd hugged one another. ``Do you believe it? Do you believe it?'' they asked each other over and over again. ``On Cuban soil!''
``It's just marvelous,'' said Reina Richard, 29, who brought her 3-year-old son Cesar.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Cuba's top Catholic leader, said earlier Tuesday that he hoped the concerts would help the church in its campaign to recapture Cuba's largely forgotten religious Christmas traditions.
``There is a great work that the church must undertake,'' Ortega said. ``It is a job that I think will take many years.''
Thus far, most expressions of Christmas in this formerly atheistic nation are secular, such as small plastic trees.
The Cuban government declared itself atheist in 1962, but Christmas remained an official holiday until 1969, when it was canceled amid an unsuccessful effort to harvest 11 million tons of sugar. The government argued that the holiday interfered with the harvest.
But restrictions on believers have gradually fallen away, and in 1991 the Communist Party dropped its ban on religious believers. A year later, Cuba declared itself a secular rather than an atheist state.
Church-state relations warmed even more with the papal visit.
Last month, the Communist Party said mechanization had reduced the need for manpower in the sugar harvest and declared that Christmas would be a holiday once again.
© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press