« Rafting in Panama and Costa Rican Beaches | Home | Brooklyn Bridge, New York. »
Traditional Calabash Dance
By Melvin Pereira | July 4, 2008
Traditional Calabash Dance in Santa Cruz Guanacaste
As a way of keeping the region’s tradition alive and present within new generations, the community’s school staff started the yearly Calabash Dance over 29 years ago in Guanacaste.
This year a number of teachers and over 300 students take extra time during the week to prepare for this awaited yearly event. The V Cult Festival Calabash Dance takes place during the whole week and will finish this Saturday July 5th with the Calabash Dance.
Aside from the musical groups invited for the dance, the main attraction is the 3,000 hand painted jicaras that are given away to the guests. The elaboration of the jicaras are carried out by the students of the Santa Barbara Technological High School who pick the fruit from the calabash tree, cut them in halves, extract the pulp and leave them to dry.
After the jicaro fruit has been cut in half and dried, it results in a hard bowl that was used by ancestors and is still commonly seen in some family homes in Guanacaste. It was used in the kitchen and for scooping water when washing clothes.
Today the jicara or bowl is sold as a souvenir and can be hand carved with beautiful nature scenes or hand painted with colorful rural scenes. A number of tourists show up for this vibrant event and enjoy a taste of the local food and drink. Locals enjoy sharing their history and hand crafts with tourists and will even gladly show them the whole process in making a jicara.
This celebration has been carried out year after year and has been declared of cultural interest in 2002 by the Ministry of Cult. Dance fee is 5,000 colones (about $10) and guests will take home a unique hand painted jicara.
Topics: 128 Trip Blog |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.