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    - Photo via Ministry of Culture -
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Published on Monday, July 24,
2023
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica celebrates 199 years of the Guanacaste Annexation Day holiday in Costa Rica, better known as Guanacaste Day.
However, traditionally observed on Tuesday, July 25, authorities moved the holiday to Monday, which means a long weekend.
It's common for tourists to flock to the beaches and countryside.
Also, most public institutions, such as banks, ministries, schools, as well as embassies will be closed in observance of the holiday. Anyone that works that holiday must receive an extra day's salary, according to the Ministry of Labor.
The motto, "De la Patria por Nuestra Voluntad," which in the English language means “We are part of the country by our own free will," represents how 198 years ago, the people of the Nicoya territory decided to join the recently proclaimed independent State of Costa Rica.
According to the book El Partido de Nicoya y su integración a Costa Rica (in English, the Nicoyan territories and its integration into Costa Rica) by historian Julio César Jaén Contreras, the incorporation of the territory of Nicoya to the State of Costa Rica happened on July 25, 1824. The region is now Guanacaste Province.
The annexation went through a plebiscite that took place in the city of Nicoya. During an open town hall, the inhabitants of the municipalities of Nicoya and Santa Cruz voted to join Costa Rica.
This voluntary act to become a new territory contributed more land, people and natural resources, such as the particular dry forest, but Nicoya also culturally enriched the nation, the Ministry of Culture said in its statement.
Gastronomy, music, language, ancestral knowledge and religious traditions, among many other manifestations, characterize Guanacaste's cultural heritage.
Guanacaste
Day is more than a traditional
celebration. The town of Guanacaste has
brought a priceless cultural legacy to
Costa Rica. According to the ministry,
some of the main contributions of the
Guanacaste culture to the country are
food and art.
The gastronomy with folk dishes such as pinolillo, torta dulce, rosquillas, perrerreque, yoltamal and arroz de maiz among many other dishes are part of the Costa Rican gastronomic culture, inherited by the ancestors.
Corn is a
Cultural Heritage of Costa Rica. The
traces of the presence and use of corn
in Costa Rica, date back to 3,000 B.C.
in the Guanacaste territory.
Pottery, the tradition of making ceramic pieces with Chorotega influence, is considered a living heritage.
From the original populations of Guanacaste to those of today, pottery remains popular in towns such as Guaitil de Santa Cruz, Las Pozas and San Vicente de Nicoya; Puerto San Pablo and Santa Rita, in Nandayure, as well as in Tempatal de La Cruz.
According to Iria Salas, researcher, ceramic artist and teacher at the School of Plastic Arts of the University of Costa Rica, pottery possibly began to be manufactured in Guanacaste 4,000 years ago. The oldest evidence comes from the Tilarán mountain range.
The
current production of Chorotega
ceramics dates back to the beginning
of the 20th century when men
collaborated in obtaining and
preparing raw materials. Meanwhile,
women carried out the activity and
passed on their knowledge to new
generations.
The language and particular ways of speaking are expressions of culture; not only part of natural and daily communication but also of cultural identity, traditions and collective memory of the intangible cultural heritage of people.
In Guanacaste, culture manifests itself in the oral part of the language, in multiple and particular expressions of its inhabitants. There are words related to work as el sabanero, el boyero, or el agricultor; in some expressions linked to the activities of the farms, and even to the landscape; and in oral traditions, such as Bombas and Retahilas.
"Guanacaste's
speech is distinguished from the rest
of the country in terms of
pronunciation, some grammatical
features, and, above all, concerning
the lexicon, which largely brings it
closer to the speech of the countries
of northern Central America, than to
the speech of the Central Valley,”
said Miguel Ángel Quesada Pacheco,
linguist, researcher, member of the
Costa Rican Academy of Language.
A popular traditional instrument is the Quijongo, which is a two-meter long stick, a rope tied from end to end, a sounding board and a jícaro (a type of calabash).
This is a national instrument that, together with the marimba, makes it a characteristic of the Guanacaste province, both due to its origin and its influence on music in this region.
According
to the Ministry of Culture, the
Quijongo is currently considered
Guanacaste's musical heritage. It's an
accessible instrument, allowing for
silent moonlit night accompaniments to
promote evenings and leisure spaces
among the inhabitants of the
haciendas. Also, its melody is a
complement to indigenous genres.
The architectural heritage of old buildings in Guanacaste still standing are the heritage of the province and the country.
For example, the Temple of San Blas in Nicoya is considered one of the buildings with the most cultural history in the province of Guanacaste. It was declared a Site of Historical-Architectural Interest in 1995.
The construction of the first temple is estimated to have started almost 500 years ago (between 1522 and 1544). According to the Center for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, the structure is made up of wooden walls and a thatched roof, similar to the houses of the indigenous population.
Over the years, the temple has undergone various reconstructions due to several incidents such as earthquakes or fires, which occurred between 1822 and 2012. The most recent was the Samara earthquake in 2012, destroying certain parts of the temple.
In 2019, after a gradual restoration process by the Cultural Heritage Center, the temple reopened its doors to the public.
The Guanacaste Day celebration is more than commemorating a historic date. It is the celebration of the cultural expansion of the colonial territory to a whole country.
Today, Guanacaste is also synonymous with tourism.
The province has five-star hotels, its own international Daniel Oduber Airport, two commercial centers located in the northern area: Liberia and Santa Cruz, and five important tourism development centers: Papagayo, El Coco, Flamingo, Conchal and Tamarindo.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the incomparable beauty of its landscapes, which range from tropical dry forests to lowland mountain forests, its warm climate, as well as its flourishing nature has made Guanacaste one of the most heavily visited areas by locals as well as international tourists.
The province has one of the most developed lands because of its high level of investment in the coveted hotel industry.
"All along the Guanacaste coastline are several beaches where you can swim in their warm Pacific Ocean waters. The coastal landscape is exceptional. There is an array of white-sand beaches and calm, intense-blue waters," the ministry said on its website, Visit Costa Rica.
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