Día de la independencia!

So today was the independence day of Costa Rica! Yesterday they had some entertainment and speeches in the park. A tradition for the day before the independence day is to make a farol, which is a box with a light in it.

There were many different farols, and they gave out prices for the best and most creative ones. 

Today it was possible to see the Costa Rican flag everywhere (they have actually been around for the whole month).

It is a tradition that all the schools participate in parades around the local churches and their parks.

There were many different outfits to see in the parades, but this is the most traditional outfit of Costa Rica.

One thing the parades are well known for are the marching bands! They have been practicing since school started in February, and I have been hearing them practicing the last few weeks. The most common instruments in the bands are drums and liras.

A lot of the bands also had some other instruments. I really don't know the name of this instrument, but it was cool ;)

Here is a video of the most popular performance in the parade.

And here is an example of the loud noise they can make with their drums!

After the parade in Moravia was finished I moved on to Coronado, known for its old gothic church. The parade was pretty much longer, and there were much more people than in Moravia.

Here is another traditional outfit used for Costa Rican dancing.

There were a lot of nice and different traditional Costa Rican dances to see today.

Some of the bands also had brass instruments.

And some of the musicians played on several drums ;)

 In addition to music and dancing there were some cheerleading teams that would have short performances :)

In front of the bands there would be more students dancing to the music. This was the last school in the parade in Coronado.

 I had a great day with a lot to hear and see! The sun was also shining, so I got a little sunburnt :P

¡Viva Costa Rica!