Today is one of those days I feel a little nostalgic living in Costa Rica. In this country, since the main religion is Catholic, Halloween is not such a big celebration as it is back home, especially in Guanacaste where people just don’t to celebrate it all, all there is are a couple of Halloween parties in some bars and that is it: no decorations, no trick or treating, nothing. Costa Rica Mascarade

 

In Costa Rica, San Jose does have a few more celebrations going on, just this past week I received pictures of the decorations set on a friends neighborhood, so I am guessing that the do have more of the Halloween spirit in the Capital city of Costa Rica. As I informed to you in another entry there will be quite a few celebrations tonight: the Halloween fund raiser, DJ Max Graham in Heredia, a band that only appears in Halloween called the Goat Killers and even and Irish Celebration for Halloween is scheduled! Adults seem to be a lot more into Halloween than youngsters in this country.

 

However, Costa Rica Halloween celebrations seem to be some sort of different tradition: Mascarade Day! In Costa Rica carnivals there are always these special costumes, completely hand made that resemble people and in some cases the character of the Costa Rica urban legends such as La Segua or el Cadejos and these are called Mascaradas. So today there will be a few parades celebrating this lovely art form.

 

The Mascarada in Costa Rica was originally celebrated in the City of Cartago, where along with Escazu in San Jose, are two cities with the most horror stories in the country. The Mascarada was celebrated in tribute to the Virgin Mary. So there you go in Costa Rica traditions there is also something that can be related to the Halloween we know.