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Costa Rican Culture

Introduction

The various civilizations and societies in the world are differentiated from each other on the basis of certain factors, including their values, norms and cultures. Culture is the major differentiating point, which not only influences the lifestyle and the overall living of the people but also allows them to connect to each other and feel the similarities amongst themselves while looking at the differences with others.

Like all other parts of the world, Costa Rica, a country in Central America, has its own culture, norms and civilization. Costa Rica shares boarders with Nicaragua in the north and Panama in the southeast, while having Pacific Ocean in the west and Caribbean Sea to the east. The literal meaning of Costa Rica is 'rich coast, and it is among the 22 countries that claim to have democratic system of government. The country does not only have rich history and background, but is also equipped with well developed culture with all the essential components, that would be highlighted and discussed in the following paragraphs:

Discussion

Costa Rican Culture is inspired by the Spanish Culture, with a few exceptions, including Limon and Cordillera de Talamanca, which hold immense importance in Spanish culture but are of granted much importance in the Costa Rican culture. Spanish does not only has influence on the culture of Costa Rica, but the official language of the area is Spanish as well. in addition to Spanish, certain native languages are also spoken in the area, including Bribri, that is used by thousands of locals in Costa Rica.

The first foreign language used in Costa Rica is English, and a number of other languages, including French, German, Chinese and Italian are also spoken in the country as second foreign languages. The people of Costa Rica, the Costa Ricans are also known as Ticos (a Spanish name for them), and they belong to a number of different Spanish speaking nations of the area. Thus, Costa Rica is known for being home of multiethnic Spanish individuals, who have different and distinct backgrounds, with criollos, castizos and mesitzos being the predominant nations living in Costa Rica. Due to the fact that the area is comprised of people belonging to different areas and having different backgrounds, it is said to be a multi ethnic society, and thus the current day Costa Ricans do not relate to any one nationality but they prefer having citizenship of Costa Rica with the label of their respective citizenship. This implies that the Costa Ricans culture is more about ethnicity and less about nationality, which is absent because of the vast differences in ethnicities. Minority groups, including Asians, Blacks and the Amerindians are also found in Costa Rica in small numbers (Helmuth, 2000, Pp: 83).

Population

It is eminent to mention here that Costa Rican culture is the meeting point of Mesoamerican and the South American native cultures, as people from both the areas came to this county in the 16th century, thus placing a strong impact in ...