Holidays and Celebrations

This are some of the holidays and celebration that are celebrate around the world:

 

New Year`s Day

Civilizations around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year for at least four millennia. Today, most New Year’s festivities begin on December 31 (New Year’s Eve), the last day of the calendar, and continue into the early hours of January 1 (New Year’s Day).

Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year’s foods, making resolutions for the new year and watching fireworks displays.

 

 

Valentine`s Day

Dedicated to the memory of St. Valentine on February 14, this is the occassion when people all over the world profess love to their sweethearts and get for them all the best gifts they can find. But the customs associated with the festival and the ways of celebration differ from place to place and from nation to nation.

 

 

Earth Day

Each year, Earth Day—April 22—marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970, founded on this year as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green awareness.

 

 

 

The International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations in 1981.  In 2002, the United Nations declared it a permanent holiday.   Through education and public awareness events, the UN endeavors to strengthen the ideals of peace among all of the world's inhabitants.  International Day of Peace is observed on September 21st each year.  On this day, the UN urges all hostilities to stop, worldwide.

 

 

 

Christmas

Christmas -December 25th- is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Around the world, family members help to decorate the tree and home with bright lights, wreaths, candles, holly, mistletoe, and ornaments. On Christmas Eve -December 24th- , many people go to church. Also, many people believe that, on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus comes from the North Pole in a sleigh to deliver gifts for good kids.

 

 

 

 

 

And now a video to get to know more about celebrations around the world:

 

 

Holidays exercises

 

 

Costa Rican typical food

Casado

Is the most common dish in Costa Rica. It consists of beans, rice with finely diced red bell peppers and onions, fried plantains, a cabbage salad with tomato and carrot, and a choice of meat between chicken, fish, pork, or steak with grilled onions. The meat that comes with a casado is grilled or sautéed, but never fried. Sometimes the casado includes french fries or extra vegetables such as avocados.

 

 

 

Gallo Pinto

Gallo Pinto is the typical breakfast in Costa Rica. It consists of rice and beans mixed together (not separate like the casado), fried or scrambled eggs, chopped beef, fried plantains, and tortillas. A popular custom in Costa Rica is to pour Salsa Lizano over the gallo pinto. Salsa Lizano is a sweet greenish brown salsa with the faintest hint of spice.

 

 

 

 

Olla de Carne

Olla de Carne is a flavorful and nutrient-rich stew made with huge chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, chayotes, plantains, yuccas, sweet potatoes, green plantains, and camotes.

 

Tamales

Tamales are mouthwatering deliciousness! Costa Rican Tamales are boiled plantain leaves stuffed with corn meal mix, saffron rice, pork, and a variety of beans and vegetables.

 

 

 

 

And here I leave a video so you can learn a little more about  the Costa Rican cousine:

 

 

 

 

 And finally an activity

Costa Rican art, music and craft

 

Costa Rican art and craft

In Costa Rica the art has received especially a European influence. Several groups of artists adopted the impressionism, the postimpressionism, and in minor measure, the expressionism and the cubism, with the idea of ​​creating a style that was truly Costa Rican

 Painters like Wenceslao de la Guardia, Teodorico Quirós and Enrique Echandi have helped to form the base of the modern art in Costa Rica. It is possible to appreciate they work, a source of pride for the country, in many of the galleries of art and museums in Costa Rica.

 

 

The Costa Rican Art Museum :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paintings by Enrique Echandi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His self-portrait

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craft

The craftsmen are those that who did not take training in the field of art, but nevertheless they dedicate great part of their time in this, and offer their works to people, especially foreigners. They work in their own workshops or in front of people so they can observe the authenticity of their work.

 

 Every day there are produced hundreds of handcrafted pieces in the country, from ancient times where they were produced by a useful purpose and later they happened to be principal adornments of rooms, corridors and dining rooms of many Costa Rican houses.

 

 

    Examples:

Masks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pottery

 

 

 

 
 

 

Wooden craft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Costa Rican typical music

It is a mixture of paces that came from many parts. Four regions can be identified where folklore music takes place: Guanacaste (guanacasteca), Los Valles Centrales (aldeana), Limón (limonense), San Isidro del General (generaleña).

  Examples:

The national Bolero

The Parrandera:

Musical kind of fast and steady rhythm. It originates in Guanacaste's province. Interpreted by bands of people known like “cimarronas”. Generally he accompanies on marimba.

Together with the tambito, the scepter of being the national pace is disputed.

 

Here I leave an example of Parrandera; enjoy it: 

 And finally an activity to learn more about costa rican art

Sports

Here I will discuss the most popular sports practiced by Costa Ricans:

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is one of the many sports that Costa Ricans like to practice, and every time is having more followers.

The practice of this sport provides great physical and mental benefits, as required exercise to strengthen the body, concentration and mind control to act properly in some critical situations that may occur.

In addition it provide differents experiences that are lived by the exotic places where you can practice this sport.

This sport can be practiced in many parts of Costa Rica: Guanacaste, San Carlos, Jaco, among other places; and attracts both, tourists and nationals, to practice it.

 

 

Soccer

 

The quintessential sport for ticos is soccer, which arouses passion in the stadiums and outside them.

The three teams with the most fans in the country are Deportivo Saprissa Liga Deportiva Alajuelense and Club Sport Herediano and, of course, the national team is no slouch.

There are two championships in the country, the winter and summer, which Costa Ricans live with euphoria.

The most significant way in which the soccer hits the Costa Rican culture its a role funny game for friends and family known as mejengas, who everyone enjoy together.

 

 

Athletics

The athletics have turned other one of the most popular sports in Costa Rica, since 2011 the athletic events have been concurrent, in which every time it increases more the participation of Costa Ricans.

It is possible to be calling it the "bum" of the health and in addition it is easy to practice as individual sport, cheaper and easier.

One of the great figures in Costa Rica in the sport of athletics is the known Nery Brenes that achieves with his brand qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

And if you do not know him, here I leave a video so you can see him running:

 

 

 

 

And finally an activity to practice reading comprehension about sports