IN Costa Rica, Halloween is not officially celebrated, but it appears to be seeping into the culture. Catholic priest William Rodríguez said the Catholic Church in Costa Rica does not hold a “fixed position” on the subject of Halloween. However, he personally believes Halloween “has nothing to do with the Costa Rican culture. The festivity steals our cultural identity, and it cannot be positive for any community to have children going about demanding treats with the threat of pulling pranks on you.”
According to historian Carlos Fallas, who works for the Ministry of Culture, Costa Ricans decreed Oct. 31 the “National Day of Masquerades” in 1996 as an attempt to rescue the country’s cultural identity – which many Costa Rican believe damaged by adopting the North American tradition. The Day of Masquerades is celebrated each year with parades and typical Costa Rican costumes.
This year, the parade starts at 5 p.m. in Heredia. It will include traditional dances, giants, masks, oxcarts and will culminate with a small party at the central park of San Rafael de Heredia.
TWENTY to 30 years ago, Halloween was “initially restricted to the bourgeoisie, people who had traveled or studied in North America and brought the tradition back,” Fallas said, adding that trick-or-treating was practiced in upscale neighborhoods such as Los Yoses, east of San José.
A commercial boom during the late 1970s and 80s initially brought Halloween costumes and horror movies to Costa Rica. It became responsible for the spread of the tradition throughout the country, where variations have developed from the North American tradition, Fallas said.
One Costa Rican grandmother who preferred not to reveal her name, said she remembers celebrating her first Halloween in 1975, when her daughter was 12. “We used to live in Quepos, where there were no signs of Halloween. When we moved to San José, and our children were a bit older, they started dressing up and going trick-or-treating. They could go by themselves, things were safe back then,” she said.
In Costa Rica, trick-or-treaters shout “Halloween! Halloween!” from door to door, rather than the traditional “trick or treat.”
RANDALL Calvo, 23, remembers his childhood years trick-or-treating in Costa Rica in the early 1990s. “All the kids got ready around 6 p.m. to go out and ask for candies,” Calvo recalled. “People painted their faces and some wore masks. They (the kids) always dressed up like witches and princes.”
But Calvo remembers vividly when the Halloween tradition ended for him. “The priest told us that Halloween was the devil and God didn’t allow children to celebrate Halloween,” he said. “It felt like the fun was over. All the kids were so sad. Those were the best moments when I was a kid.”
