CULTURE OF COSTA RICA

LANGUAGE

• Main language is Spanish.
• They also speak Bribri, Portuguese, and Maleku

MUSIC

• Music genres include, Guanacaste, Central Valley, Caribbean
• And San Isidro del General, which uses guitar, violin, and accordion
• Guanacaste uses the Marimba, which is a large wooden xylophone.
• Central Valley uses a Marimba and guitars.
• Caribbean uses snare drums, drums, and clarinets.

FOOD

• Most common dish for breakfast is gallo pinto.
• Main dish for lunch is beans and rice served with a meat.
• No main dish for dinner, typically eat arroz con pollo,
• Which is rice with chicken.
• Also eat seafood because of there location near the Caribbean.

RELIGION

• Catholism is the state religion,it also assures religious freedom
• 76.3% are catholic and 13.7% are Evangelical Christians
• Every town in Costa Rica is home to a Catholic Church.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY

• First explored and discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502
• In 1821 Costa Rica gained independence from Spain.
• 2 years later it joined the United Provinces of Central America.

TRADITIONS

• Independence Day- September 15, carry a torch, children make paper laterns
• Christmas- San Jose is decorated with lights. Families compete to see which
• Family has the best nativity set.
• They have tope's/rodeos. Events include bull riding, bootless bull fighting,
• And herding and milking competitions.

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Life expectancy is 79
• Birth rate: 15/1,000 death rate: 4/1,000
• Population growth:1.27%
• Main ethnicity is white, literacy rate is 96.3%
• Population is 4,695,942