Traditions
Family: Costa Ricans are very family-orientated and very homely. Traditions revolve around their whole life from the birth of a new born, to a death of someone. Important family traditions like baptisms, first communions, engagement parties, weddings and funerals are must-go. These events are attended by the extended family as well as by a large quantity of friends and their family members. Also, Costa Ricans live at home until they get married, unlike American’s culture whereby they move out once they go to college etc.
Work: Costa Rican’s are still pretty much conservative in a sense that there is the very evident male dominance. The females and males understand their different roles in the society and conform to it. Though Costa Rican females hold important positions, they still respect their respective roles and follow traditions.
Religion: As Costa Rica is mainly a Catholic country, their celebrations main revolves around religions activities. However, that does not stop the fun-loving Costa Ricans to stick to the traditional way of celebrations. They often add spice and life to their religion by having parties, carnivals, and fairs to commemorate the special occasions. All these are done in the company of family, relatives and friends of the Costa Ricans.
Festivals
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| Festival list in Costa Rica (Click image to enlarge) |
Costa Rica’s festival revolves much around its Catholic religion. One of their biggest festivals is Easter Day and many businesses close on that day. The day is marked with masses, rodeos, parades, fireworks, and going to the beach with family and friends. The numerous parades are enactments of the Crucifixion of Christ and take place in all major cities, the biggest of course being in San José.
I shall start with their first festival of the year, New Years Day. This starts with housewives sweeping the floor to get rid of past years evil and have a fresh new start for the New Year. Besides that, Costa Ricans sometimes also put water in a pan and throw it over the shoulders to ensure bad things are thrown back behind them for the coming year, much like throwing salt over the shoulder for luck in America. During New Year itself, many would start to wear auspicious colours like yellow for good luck and even red underwear to ensure a good love life in the coming year. Other traditions include eating 12 grapes at midnight which supposedly grants you 12 wishes/good luck.
Travellers are not spared from participating in the New Years traditions too. They are told to put a book bag or take their luggage out and walk around the house/cross the street with it to have great travel opportunities in the coming year
As far as place of the event is concerned, majority of the people in Costa Rica flock to the beach for celebrations. The event is always marked with fireworks, festivals, count down and singing of the traditional New Year’s song in Costa Rica is called “Año Viejo”, a traditional song in which a man sings about what the past year left him.
The next big event would be the Independence Day of Costa Rica which falls on 15th September. This memorable day is marked by relay races and runners carry the “Torch of Freedom” from Guatemala to Cartago, Costa Rica. Marches and school parades are taking place in every major city and the streets are full of cheerful people. They often have a whole array of street festivals and also women and men dressed up in traditional clothing. Below is a clip showing the festivals glamour and fun.
Others
Besides all these festivals mentioned above, Costa Rica is also characterized by Tope, Fairs, Parades and Bullfighting. It will be endless to talk about all of their festivals as there is just so many of them in the colourful country. So I will only touch on one which is the Tope (pronounced as to - p –eh).
An important event that inaugurates the Festejos Populares (popular celebrations) is the Tope Nacional. A tope is a horse parade, which is a typical tradition in all local fiestas. The tradition began in colonial times as a horse race to commence the Fiestas de San Juan, a horse-racing and bullfighting event. It was customary for everyone to come out to see who the best jockeys and the fastest horses were. Costa Rica is a country with a great farming and agricultural tradition. Horses have a very important place in history since most families that colonized the country either had farms or raised horses. Naturally, like everything else in Costa Rica that was established by the Spaniards, this tradition has evolved into something uniquely Costa Rican. It has become the most important horse show of the country, what we know today as El Tope.
Thousands of riders come from all over the country come to show off their beautiful horses, riding skills, fancy steps, and specially designed cowboy outfits. It is widely known as the biggest people-watching event of the year. Horse owners, farm workers and farm owners come to the capital from all over the country to bring their best animals to the best horseman show of them all. Instead of racing, the horses are trained to take special steps, almost dancing for the spectators that line the streets. You will also see many of the typical hand-painted ox carts created by famous local craftsmen. The girls are all made up, wearing flashy cowgirl outfits, and the men are right behind. The event is all about how good you look while riding your horse and how many fancy steps your horse can manoeuvre to impress the crowd.
Read more about the Festivals here
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