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Costa Rica Research Paper

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Costa Rica is located in Central America. The capital is San José. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Costa Rica is approximately 19,730 square miles in land area. This makes it just smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia. Costa Rica has a very diverse landscape, with rainforests, volcanoes, lowlands, and beaches. (Costa) Costa Rica is a great vacation destination, however, living there is a different experience. Their history and culture roots far back, and they still have their own struggles to deal with. Costa Rica was discovered in 1502 by Christopher Columbus on one of his voyages to the Americas. He claimed the land and made it a Spanish …show more content…

Since Christmastime is at the end of the school year, people look forward to going to the beach. People in Costa Rica decorate their homes with tropical flowers, a nativity scene (called the Pasito or Portal), Christmas wreaths made of cypress branches, and Christmas lights. On Christmas Eve, people dress in their nicest clothing and attend Midnight Mass. After Midnight Mass, they eat the main Christmas meal. This meal includes chicken and pork tamales and eggnog to drink. The gift bringer in Costa Rica can either be ‘Colacho’ meaning Saint Nicholas or ‘Niño dios’ meaning Child God, or Jesus. There are lots of parties and parades to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the Christmas holiday. (Christmas) The largest religion practiced in Costa Rica is Christianity. 92% of the population is Christian. Of that 92%, 76.3% of Christians are Roman Catholic. This makes Roman Catholicism the most practiced religion in Costa Rica. Evangelical Christians make up 13.7% of the Christian population. Other religions practiced are Jehovah’s Witness, Protestant Christians, Mormonism, Judaism, and Islam. 1.3% of the population is Jehovah’s Witness and 0.7% are Protestant Christian. 4.8% of the population practices the other religions, and 3.2% report having no religion.

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