The Annexation of Guanacaste

Recently, Costa Rica celebrated their national holiday called "The Annexation of Guanacaste." Our school held a massive celebration, complete with music, dancing, stories, food (including "resbaladera" - a drink made of milk, ground rice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar, "rosquillas" - crunchy, ringshaped corn snacks, and "tamal asado" - a kind of baked, moist bread made of ground sweet corn and refined sugar), and illustrations of the 1824 event. We've posted a clip of some of the customary dances that are performed every year around this date. The dancers featured here are teachers and some students of the language school we are attending. Also, if you're interested, I've posted a short history of the Annexation of Guanacaste below.

On July 25th, the people of Costa Rica celebrate the Annexation of the District of Nicoya, more commonly called the Annexation of Guanacaste. Guanacaste, a region on the northwest corner of Costa Rica gets its name from the huge, umbrella-like national tree, called the Guanacaste tree. One of the largest and least populated regions of the country, Guanacaste has been called Costa Rica's "wild west" due to its hot, dry climate, long stretches of plains, cattle ranches, and cowboys.
Formerly part of Nicaragua, Guanacaste decided to be annexed to Costa Rica on July 25th, 1824 following a long, violent civil war in Nicaragua. Weary of the political unrest and violence all around them, the town council of Nicoya held an open meeting and raitified the decision to be annexed. Despite several attempts by Nicaragua to regain the territory, they signed a border treaty with Costa Rica in 1858 affectively granting full rights of the land to Costa Rica.
Costa Rica acquired many things from the people of this region including 8300 square kilometers of productive farm land, the Chorotega (local indian tribe) culture, Guaitil pottery, poetry, bull-fighting (a style adapted from the Spaniards), and marimba music.

Enjoy the clip!