One of the unfortunate things I have found about Costa Rican Society is the need by the educated and the wealthier Costa Ricans to attempt to mimic an American, or a Canadian life-style. On many occasions, while attending University in San José to complete my Costa Rican Law Degree, I found fellow students asking me how they could move to Canada to work and to live.
My counseling was that they should concentrate on fostering a satisfying life-style in Costa Rica and to forget about such a move, as they would likely spend all of their income on rent, warm clothing, and paying to heat their home eight months out of the year. Of course, the obvious statement was always, if you think that living in Canada, or the U.S. would be so much better, why would you think that, as a Canadian, I would choose to live in Costa Rica.
Having completed my general rant on that subject, there are two North American traditions that Costa Ricans have embraced that particularly annoy me, Halloween and Black Friday. While living in Canada, I never liked Halloween. It really constitutes nothing more than a celebration of things evil, not to mention the associated vandalism and the injuries from the miss-use of fireworks. This tradition seems to be growing in importance each year in Costa Rica and has no significance in Costa Rican Culture except that it is one more of those North American traditions to mimic.
Likewise, Black Friday, which hadn’t even started to be a tradition in the U.S., or Canada, when I moved to Costa Rica fifteen years ago, is now becoming a staple in Costa Rica. This tradition in the U.S. in particular, is exhibiting all the attributes of barbarism, with all the clawing, scratching, biting, stabbing, etc., by shoppers of each other. I can’t imagine how this in anyway advances U.S., or Canadian Society, let alone Costa Rican Society, especially when Costa Ricans have a reputation of “maxing-out” their credit cards in any event. Black Friday offers one more opportunity to bring increased social pressure to the family unit at a time of the year already filled with social pressure.
My hope is that Costa Ricans understand that they have a beautiful Country and a Society distinct from the consumer-driven societies of the U.S. and Canada, a distinction which, in my opinion, is well worth preserving.
I had hoped that your column would address the ridiculous notion of Christmas decorations that include evergreen Christmas trees, snow scenes, holly wreaths, sleighs, and reindeer – all traditions adopted from northern Europe or the northern parts of North America, mostly pagan in origin, and unrelated to the birth of Jesus in the middle east. As someone who grew up in Florida, I questioned these customs. On moving to Costa Rica, I hoped to find a different set of customs but was disappointed. Certainly, there are Mediterranean traditions that predate Coca Cola’s Santa Claus and would better serve this latitude, but I have yet to see any evidence of a local tradition other than tamales and other typical foods served as part of Christmas celebrations here..