Semana Santa and CR International Art Festival

Semana Santa: Holy Week (Latin: Hebdomas Sancta or Hebdomas Maior, "Greater Week") in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Semana Santa is one of the most revered and popular religious holidays in Costa Rica. It is a time of both religious observation and processions and a time of festivities and parties. Most Costa Ricans flock to the beaches to enjoy a break from work, fun family time and sizzling barbecues.

Semana Santa: I thought it was going to be all fun and games with lots of street parades, live religious/art performances and bbq’s like I read. But no San Jose, Costa Rica is a ghost town. Starting today all the stores are closed including the grocery stores, the buses stopped running and ALCOHOL is Illegal. San Jose is on lock down from Good Friday till Easter Sunday. Luckily we had some clues to the prohibition of alcohol so I ran out and bought a 12 pack of beer, cheap box wine and a bottle of whiskey. This should last the weekend.

Beer cooler boxed up and locked up for Semana Santa

Beer covered with cardboard boxes

Me trying to break into the beer cooler during Semana Santa

All kidding aside I really did think there would be a lot going on in San Jose for the Semana Santa. I don’t know kinda like Granada, Nicaragua for Christmas and New Years. Lots of street processions, neighborhood block parties and Oh yeah I can’t forget the fireworks!! I am sort of disappointed. I guess the Costa Rican’s don’t know how to party like the Nicas (if any Costa Rican heard me say that I would be in big trouble. There’s a rivalry between the two countries).

Anyways leading up to this week there was the huge and impressive two-week 12th annual International Art Festival in San Jose at Sabana Park. The festival featured more than 5,000 artists from 20 countries taking part in over 350 shows and activities. The program included cultural and artistic events—parades, music, dance, theater, opera, magic, clowns, puppet shows, and film in either Sabana Park or in/around downtown San Jose.

Since we didn’t really know about it until last minute we could not get tickets to any of the live theater performances, which I would have really liked, but we did go to the festival in Sabana Park both last Sunday and the one before.

We walked through the artesian booths which were set up and tented like a normal convention and sorted into sections such as traditional

Debb at the Art Festival in Sabana Park

Costa Rican art, more modern home décor, clothing, jewelry, paintings and other miscellaneous. There was so much really nice traditional and modern home décor that I wanted to buy (to add to my collection of Central American art which I will decorate our house with when we get home) but we decided on a vibrant, colorful painting instead. Though there were others that represented Costa Rica a bit better like images of frogs, birds or paddle boats we agreed on this one.

Painting we bought at CR International Art Festival

Ryan petting the sad baby colt at the Art Festival

The rest of the time we walked around the park admiring all the families and friends together. We felt like locals appreciating the art and culture. We ate some (in my opinion) disgustingly, sweet bubble gum ice cream with fruit, petted the sad tied up colt horses and walked around the entire park looking at more art and crafts, clowns

Clown on stilts at the Art Festival in Sabana Park

on stilts and people watching. Then we sat and watched kids practicing BMX free-style riding, skateboarders, urban running, and one goofy but determined roller skater try to do 360 tricks. By and large it was lots of fun.

Now if I can just find those festivals, parties and barbecues for Semana Santa before it’s over.

written by

ryan & debbrial on April 1, 2010 from San Jose, Costa Rica

from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas

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