Independence Day

Yesterday was the Independence Day for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras. 188 years of independence from Spanish rule. To celebrate, there is a huge parade of all the public schools and many of their students through the streets of the cities. By ¨Huge¨ I mean, ¨really long¨.

We went to the door of the school when we heard the drums and stood outside on the street as the students walked by. Usually the schools were separated by banners announcing the name of the next school. Many schools had drums and a few had trumpets and trombones, there were girls in traditional dresses and some with cute little outfits and batons. Surprisingly, all they did was swing their baton or skirt back and forth as they marched/walked. Every so often the ¨band¨ would break out a short song, the skirts and batons would swing faster for a bit, and then everyone would continue as before.

As we stood watching, I thought we were waiting for our school to walk by, but it turns out that only public schools have to march, private don´t. So our school was not marching. So I don´t know why we stood watching for an hour and 1/2. Not going to lie, I was bored.

Turns out they don´t do much to celebrate their independence other than this. You can read about more here, http://www.naturelandings.com/articles.php?article=11