Feb 12, 2009

506 TicoPost

506 TicoPost

Native Costa Ricans

Posted: 12 Feb 2009 01:02 AM CST

The Bibri KidsTo try and get to know a people, such as native Costa Rican, would probably take a lifelong process. The population of Costa Rica is one of the most homogeneous in Latin America. 97% of the population have mixed racial ancestry, generally native american with Spanish. In Spanish, they’re called the mestizos. The original natives of this land, pure Native American, remains only 1% of the total population.

Native Costa Ricans are known for their hospitality. In spite of the crime and recent drug problems, generally, Costa Rica is a remarkebly friendly environment.

Costa Rica is mainly a Catholic land, as most of Latin America is. Some evangelical churches has been well established since the 1970’s but still a great 80% of the population remains Catholic. Although only 20% of them actually attend mass regularly, Costa Ricans still express their faith during a certain time of the year, the Holy Week.

There are 8 seperate communities amongst the indegenous population. the 2 largest groups are the Cabecares and the Bribris. A bill to protect and reserve land rights for the indigenous and preserve native culture was established in 1977. However, although the government has practiced these initiatives, it has simultaneously failed to protect the land against mining interests.

Costa Rica has gone through civil wars, human rights abuses and dictatorships. But since 1949 it has had a quite stable democracy. The democratic tradition and its peace ethis is foremost sources of pride amongst Costa Ricans.

The most recent ethic that Costa Ricans are proud of is the environmental protection. 20% of its national territory are made up of national parks, wildlife refuges and forest reserves. Thus the nation’s largest source of economic income is ecotourism.

by Elisheva Wiriaatmadja.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)