What are the traditions of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

A tradition in of many towns and cities in Nicaragua is Hipica, which is the celebration of the particular city. There are horses, carriages, people from the different farms and a small parade.  Hipica  is when we celebrate the saint of that town or that city. For example, in Managua, Hipica is August 1 and their Saint is Santo Domingo.  San Juan del Sur has a different saint that it celebrates for Hipica.

In the first week of June in San Juan del Sur, there...

A tradition in of many towns and cities in Nicaragua is Hipica, which is the celebration of the particular city. There are horses, carriages, people from the different farms and a small parade.  Hipica  is when we celebrate the saint of that town or that city. For example, in Managua, Hipica is August 1 and their Saint is Santo Domingo.  San Juan del Sur has a different saint that it celebrates for Hipica.

In the first week of June in San Juan del Sur, there is the Dorado Fishing Tournament. It’s pretty big, not as big as other events, but it’s big because a lot of people, specifically fishermen, go there and the town comes alive. There are bars and parties. The tournament is for two days and it’s fun.

The Purisima, which is a Nicaraguan tradition of the celebration of the Virgin Mary, is on December 7th. (Pictured above.)

Every Thursday night here in San Juan Del Sur, there is a folkloric dance held at El Timon, which is a great, locally owned restaurant on the beach. Our students from San Juan Del Sur Day School got to perform their traditional Nicaraguan folk dance there just recently. We had been training and practicing the kids and it is just amazing to see all these expat children wearing the traditional Nicaraguan dance outfits and dancing to traditional Nicaraguan music. That is big here.
 
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Every Thursday night here in San Juan Del Sur, there is a folkloric dance held at El Timon, which is a great, locally owned restaurant on the beach. Our students from San Juan Del Sur Day School got to perform their traditional Nicaraguan folk dance there just recently. We had been training and practicing the kids and it is just amazing to see all these expat children wearing the traditional Nicaraguan dance outfits and dancing to traditional Nicaraguan music. That is big here.
 
Nicaragua has several different holidays. We just celebrated La Purisima, which is the Immaculate Conception of Mary. They do parades around town and it is almost similar to Halloween in the States, where everyone goes to houses, sing songs, and then they get candy. It is a really big thing here in Nicaragua. As a Christian country, Nicaragua is very proud of Christianity and Socialism so a lot of big community events revolve around Christian holidays. 
 
Nicaragua has a long winter break from school. The local schools just went on break in early December and they won’t be back until February. They are a lot of big graduation ceremonies for 4-year olds, which I think is kind of funny. The baptisms and first communions are a big deal to people here as well. During Sundays, culturally, the men are off work and they go to the baseball games early. They start drinking and because of that Sunday afternoons could be a bit “un-pretty” at times. That is a consistent routine here in San Juan Del Sur.
 
Other than that, surfing has grown here in San Juan Del Sur. More and more locals have gotten into it. International surfers introduced surfing but now, more and more Nicaraguan surfers are getting into it. Going to the beach with your family and having a barbecue on the beach is a popular pastime now. The rodeo is another big activity here in San Juan Del Sur but it’s not like a rodeo in the States. It’s an interesting rodeo because the younger men, about 20 years old, get drunk and kind of abuse the cows for each other’s entertainment. In my opinion, it is not a fun rodeo to go to especially if you are an animal rights activist in any way. 
 
Relevant to fishing, people here in San Juan Del Sur have a big event every year where they bless all their boats and a parade of fishermen go out to sea, go around the buoys, and throw candy back and forth from boat to boat.

 

(Students from San Juan del Sur Day School perform native dances at  El Timon, a restaurant in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)