masquerade day: how the tradition was born
TRANSCRIPT
How the Tradition was Born
The masquerade tradition comes from the
Colonial Cartago, especially from people in
communities that got together to show
traditional characters. In 1996, it was
established October 31st as the National
Masquerade Day.
During the parade, you can see characters
such as “la muerte, el diablo, la segua, and el
padre sin cabeza” among others. All of them
represent cultural elements or stories that
people have shared in Costa Rica over time.
Masquerade day origins go back to the
traditional “turnos” or town carnivals where
people organized activities to collect money to
raise funds for the town church expenses.
In the middle of “ventas, bombetas” and
music, people enjoyed the masks which
danced, ran and chased young and adults
using their so feared “chilillos”.
Text adapted and translated from: http://si.cultura.cr/component/sicultura/articulo/dia-de-la-mascarada-tradicional-3383.html, visited on June 25th 2014 at 6 40 pm.