Instead, Costa Rica, along with all of Central America northwards of it, gained their independence through the Mexican War for Independence. But since news travelled at a the pace of a runner, it took a while for it to trickle down from Mexico. Galloping through Guatemala, empowering El Salvador, hopping in Honduras, and navigating through Nicaragua, messenger-runners spread word of this independence through towns until they coasted into the then-Costa Rican capital of Cartago.
September 15, the day that independence was declared, is Costa Rica's Día de la Independencia. To commemorate Central American independence, high school runners tag team carrying a torch from Guatemala down to Cartago, mimicking the motion of the message spreading almost 200 years ago. Runners from each town get to work their legs to run a leg of this journey, passing the torch off at the next town...quite the relay race! And there's a deadline for it too--the torch must reach Cartago by midnight of the 15th. Or else the Cinderella moment's over (just kidding, I think...but I'm not quite sure what happens if it doesn't make it!).
Glad we got that background settled. Well, on the night of September 14th, the torch was making its way through San Pedro, the area of San José where I've been living! Leading up to the torch touch-off, masses of people gathered on a street with these little lanterns, many of them shaped like houses. Local school children played music and danced, as the on-lookers (mostly their parents and us group of gringos) watched. My host mama explained to me how the majority of people that partake in Independence Day festivities are families with children involved in the parade...otherwise it's just the same event year after year and you don't need to keep going (although that logic doesn't seem to stop anyone in the US from getting fired up for fireworks year after year!). It was also raining as we looked on at the performances, creating quite the sea of umbrellas!
At 6:00 pm, the Costa Rican national anthem patriotically paraded through some loud speakers. Our professor recounted how the anthem always plays at 6:00 pm on September 14 and how he remembers cars and buses pulling over when he was a kid for the respectful recitation...now it's less common to do so, as I saw while buses continued to zoom by through the anthem.
Meanwhile, post-anthem, post-performances, the crowd geared up for the torch! A group of high school runners stood together on the side of the road, encouraging cars and buses to honk out of support as they drove by (many of them did. It was quite the orchestra of beeping! Acoustically, I kind of preferred the anthem moment, but hey that's just me).
Then, the runners from the previous town plowed into the street, passed on the torch, and San Pedro's runners brought it over to light a larger torch in the middle of a park. One group continued on carrying the torch onwards to its Cartago destination, while other runners got a piece of the fire to bring back to kindle a flame at their own high school.
I hope you all had a liberating Independence Day! Tomorrow morning, I bid adios to the city for some time, as we head back to the Las Cruces field station. Got my jungle pants and rubber boots all ready to go...to the rainforest!
September 15, the day that independence was declared, is Costa Rica's Día de la Independencia. To commemorate Central American independence, high school runners tag team carrying a torch from Guatemala down to Cartago, mimicking the motion of the message spreading almost 200 years ago. Runners from each town get to work their legs to run a leg of this journey, passing the torch off at the next town...quite the relay race! And there's a deadline for it too--the torch must reach Cartago by midnight of the 15th. Or else the Cinderella moment's over (just kidding, I think...but I'm not quite sure what happens if it doesn't make it!).
Glad we got that background settled. Well, on the night of September 14th, the torch was making its way through San Pedro, the area of San José where I've been living! Leading up to the torch touch-off, masses of people gathered on a street with these little lanterns, many of them shaped like houses. Local school children played music and danced, as the on-lookers (mostly their parents and us group of gringos) watched. My host mama explained to me how the majority of people that partake in Independence Day festivities are families with children involved in the parade...otherwise it's just the same event year after year and you don't need to keep going (although that logic doesn't seem to stop anyone in the US from getting fired up for fireworks year after year!). It was also raining as we looked on at the performances, creating quite the sea of umbrellas!
At 6:00 pm, the Costa Rican national anthem patriotically paraded through some loud speakers. Our professor recounted how the anthem always plays at 6:00 pm on September 14 and how he remembers cars and buses pulling over when he was a kid for the respectful recitation...now it's less common to do so, as I saw while buses continued to zoom by through the anthem.
Meanwhile, post-anthem, post-performances, the crowd geared up for the torch! A group of high school runners stood together on the side of the road, encouraging cars and buses to honk out of support as they drove by (many of them did. It was quite the orchestra of beeping! Acoustically, I kind of preferred the anthem moment, but hey that's just me).
Then, the runners from the previous town plowed into the street, passed on the torch, and San Pedro's runners brought it over to light a larger torch in the middle of a park. One group continued on carrying the torch onwards to its Cartago destination, while other runners got a piece of the fire to bring back to kindle a flame at their own high school.
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| Lighting the larger torch in the park |
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| Carrying the torch to its next destination! |
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