El Dia De Independencia

By the end of 2008, I will have been in 3 countries (well more than that, but only 3 for longer than 4 days). Out of those three countries, I will have been in 2 of them for their Independence Day. The one country whose Independence Day I was not around to celebrate is that of my own.

While in Peru, they had their Independence Day (July 28). However, since I was working with a group at that time, I didn't really celebrate and I don't really know what all they do there in order to celebrate their independence.

Then, while here in Costa Rica I was able to celebrate their independence. Here, it is a 2 (and in some ways 3) day celebration. Costa Rica's Independence Day is Sept 15 (this year on a Monday). However, the celebration starts the night of the 14th. All the schools, public and private have celebrations. I went with my host family to Krish's (my host sister)school. There they had a short ceremony (it wasn't overly long, but I must still admit a bit boring). It started with a group of kids running into the gym with a torch (it reminded me of the opening ceremony of the Olympics). They did a lot of singing. I know what the Himno Nacional and one was the school song, but the others, I have NO idea. There were also a few people who shared. I'm sure it was a little about the history of the country, but I didn't really follow. Finally, it ended with a parade around the neighborhood with laterns. (The ceremony started at 6pm, so it was dark by the time the ceremony started.) The significance of this parade is that the night before Costa Rica officially became independent 187 yrs ago, they had people go through the streets telling of the independence. Because there was no electricity, they went through with only laterns.

Then, on the morning of the 15th, we went to Krish's school again for Part 2 of the Independency Day celebration. At the school, there was more talking and singing, but less, and some students performed some traditional dances. It was fun watching the little kids "dance". Krish was in one of the dances. After the ceremony, there is another parade. This one is bigger than the one the night before. (Here parades aren't what they are at home, where everyone sits on the side of the road to watch people go by and hope for candy...no...it's for the school kids, who walk in their groups, but the parents walk along side of the kids...so...something different.)

Then for the rest of the day, the kids are free to do whatever and for many schools, the kids have the 16th off from classes because it is MANDATORY for them to attend the 2 days of celebrations at the school.