As luck would have it, Friday, April 11 is an official holiday to honor the young drummer boy, Juan Santamaria who volunteered and who was subsequently shot and killed while burning down the U.S. filibuster (Invader) fortress of William Walker in Rivas, Nicaragua, the year 1856.
A brave young person who reportedly asked that he will do this deed on the condition that his mother will be taken care of for life.
On the other hand the president, at the time, who led the battles against William Walker was then Juan Rafael Mora who decided that too much was exactly that. I think of him as the father of the Tea-Pot-Party Movement with a lot of fascism tossed into the equation.
Mora, as might be expected, fled Costa Rica under duress to El Salvador and launched a counter offensive against te country of Paradise but was eventually disarmed, captured and executed.
Bottom line: April 11 is an official holiday leading to this year’s Semana Santa. But, we must take into consideration the Juan Santamaria drummer boy who burned down the William Walker garrison and was killed in doing so. He was the soldier of the then President, Juan Rafael Mora who orchestrated our liberty from the U.S,. backed William Walker. (Phew, so complicated!)
In the end, we executed President, Mora who does not have a holiday but we do have a holiday as well as airport named after Santamaria.
This year, 2014, our Santamaria day of recognition is Friday, April 11th while “Semana Santa” (Holy Week) is to start that following Monday until Sunday (Easter) April 19 which is more than one additional week.
According to the tourism industry, hotels are 80% full for the entire week plus two days of holiday for Juan Santamaria starting on the 11TH of April, a Friday.
So we, nationals and expats celebrate a long journey and the end of what we call “summer” by going to many beaches in celebration of the death of Jesus Christ and execution of former, really former, President, Juan Rafael Mora.
It is now said that our hotels in Paradise are 80% occupied, which is suspicious, while the churches are 14% occupied during the same time period. In fact my arch enemy Autopistas del Sol have decided that on Easter Sunday, the traffic returning from the beach areas warrants “one way” since people coming from the ocean requires, as of last year, 8 to 9 hours to just to get home, and remember work is the next Monday morning.
First, I have a tough time honoring the drummer boy over the leader who historically saved this country from “gringo” domination. His politics might have been all wrong, but why kill the guy?
Next, how is it valid that the entire week of Holy Week (Semana Santa) celebrates and recognizes the execution of a president, the death of Jesus Christ all by going to the beach and drinking tons of Imperial beer? How about a little suffering, a little homage, even perhaps some worship and then an Easter Sunday celebration of His rising instead of a drive home in perpetual, holistic traffic?
A-Men!