July 19 – Sandinista Revolution Day in Nicaragua

Posted on July 19, 2015

I am not wanting to delve too heavily into the basis of this holiday. Suffice to say that the Sandinistas were a leftist (communist) group that organized in Nicaragua during the 1960s and 1970s to liberate the nation from the Somoza family dictatorship.

The Sandinistas were able to overthrow Somoza – but he destroyed a lot of his nation as he fled, AND he stole all of the nation's money in the treasury, as well!

The Sandinistas were idealistic, and they did make some important improvements in Nicaragua (including cutting back the percentage of people who couldn't read). However, most people still faced crippling poverty, and as the Sandinistas continued to rule the country, they did a few things such as closing down a newspaper that had been critical of one aspect of the government – things that made some observers worry that they were becoming more like the government that they had replaced.

I'm ashamed to say that my own nation, the U.S., meddled in some horrible ways with Nicaragua, funding the Contras who in the 1980s began to form a counter-revolution movement. The war between the Contras and the Sandinistas killed tens of thousands of people.

There were some bumps and struggles between then and now, but modern-day Nicaragua is a more stable representative democratic republic. And since 2007. Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega has served as president.

Now that it's stable....

Nicaragua wasn't nearly as commonly visited as nearby Costa Rica, because for years people worried about revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries shooting it out in the jungles. But now that the country has become more stable, many adventurous tourists are traveling to the country to:

Hike volcanoes

Go volcano boarding

Tour the brightly-painted colonial architecture of Grenada

Hang out on the beaches, and visit the islands

Explore a cloud forest

Check out the sculptures of “Stone Man” Alberto Guiterrez

Hang out at Apoyo Lagoon (which isn't a lagoon, but rather a lake formed in the crater from an old volcano)

Also on this date:

Anniversary of a collaboration between giants  

Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Nanfan (?)

Anniversary of the Metro (subway) in Paris

Arts and Artists Day

Anniversary of the first parking meters

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• July holidays
• July birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in July

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

September 14, 2012 - San Jacinto Day in Nicaragua

Tomorrow Nicaragua and four other Central American nations will celebrate their independence. But unlike Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and El Salvador, Nicaraguans will start celebrating today!

And that's because another patriotic victory occurred on September 14, 1856, coincidentally the day before Independence Day.

At the time, there was a struggle for power between two groups of Nicaraguans, and the fighting was threatening the existence of the country. One faction invited a mercenary army to get involved—which means they brought in soldiers from foreign lands who were not fighting for home and family, but instead for money. This particular mercenary army was mostly made up of men from the United States! The leader of the mercenaries was an American man named William Walker, who declared himself president of Nicaragua in 1855.

Apparently, Walker wanted to either rule over Nicaragua and other Central American nations in order to get them accepted as slave-owning states in the U.S.—or, if that didn't work out, he wanted to keep on ruling over the land himself. Either way, Walker is considered a filibuster. This isn't the filibuster that is a llllooooooonnnnnnnggggg speech made in Congress in order to stall a bill or to block it from being voted on. The William Walker kind of filibuster is a buccaneer, freebooter, or adventurer who takes private military action in a foreign country. In other words, America wasn't attacking Nicaragua, but an American sure was!

A small group of Nicaraguans was in charge of slowing down Walker and his men—even though the mercenary army was larger and had much newer, better weapons. Things seemed grim for the Nicaraguans, especially when their guns jammed, but they fought bravely on, even throwing rocks at the enemy when their guns wouldn't work. When things looked especially bad, one of the Nicaraguans released some horses from an enclosure. Hearing the sound of galloping horses, the mercenaries thought that cavalry reinforcements had arrived to fight against them—and the mercenaries ran away, scared for their lives.

Today the Nicaraguans celebrate this unlikely victory of a small, badly equipped army against a larger, richer army. Happy San Jacinto Day!

To learn more about William Walker, check out this earlier post. And to learn more about Nicaragua, check out this and this other earlier post. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the completion of the first North American lighthouse 

Anniversary of the completion of Handel's Messiah

May 30, 2012 - Celebrate, Central American Style!

Today three different Central American countries celebrate three different holidays.

Can you find Honduras, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago on this map?

Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago

This holiday marks the anniversary of the May 30, 1845, arrival of a ship full of East Indian people. Although the day used to be called Indian Emigration Day, the early East Indian arrivals were not freely choosing to emigrate to the lovely Caribbean islands—instead, they were brought over as “coolies,” or slaves. Nowadays, the racial mix of people living in Trinidad and Tobago includes around 40% black (many descendants of African slaves) and around 40% Indian (many descendants of “coolies”). It is this sizable Indian group who have encouraged the celebration of their ancestors' arrival on the islands by reveling in music, dance, and food from their Indian heritage.

To learn more about Trinidad and Tobago, see this earlier post. 

Arbor Day in Honduras

Honduras is a sort of tree heaven—also known as a biodiversity hotspot. It has tropical rainforests, “cloud forests” (which are jungles that are almost always covered by low clouds and fog—and which gets little rain but lots of “fog drip”), mangrove forests that grow in a sort of saltwater swamp, and forests of pine and oak trees in the mountains.

Timber is an important product for Honduras, but there are other, even more important, products that don't involve cutting down trees—such as tropical fruit and eco-tourism. Dia del Arbol (“Day of the Tree”) is important in Honduras because so much of it is covered by trees. Kids learn about the importance of caring for the nation's forests, plant trees, and participate in special art projects.

Check out this virtual rainforest tour.

To learn more about Honduras, check out this earlier post. 

Mother's Day in Nicaragua

Many different nations have set aside a day to celebrate mothers, but of course they don't all choose the same day. Today is Mother's Day in Nicaragua; the date was chosen by a president in the 1940s; May 30 was the birthday of his mother-in-law.

Here is a very short tourism video about Nicaragua. 

To find out more about Nicaragua and Honduras, see this earlier post. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the eruption of Mount Lassen

Anniversary of the discovery of krypton 

September 15, 2011 - Central America Celebrates!

Today is Independence Day for Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua!

Yes, almost all of Central America jointly declared independence from Spain on this day in 1821. Spain, exhausted from wars of independence in Mexico and South America, just let Central American colonies go without a fight. For a short period of time, the Central American countries became part of the First Mexican Empire. In 1823, they formed their own government as the Federal Republic of Central America. That government turned out to be quite weak, with the various parts basically functioning on their own, and soon it broke up altogether as each of these nations became truly independent.

What do you know...?

1. Which two countries are considered part of Central America but are not in this list of five nations celebrating independence today? (Hint: one begins with the letter “B,” and one with “P.”
   
   
2. Name a native American culture that dominated this region before the Spaniards began to conquer it in the 1520s. (Initial letters “M” or “A.”)
   
   
3. Central America lies between what two bodies of water? (“P.O.” and “C.S.”)
   
   
4. Match the nation to its capital city:
   a. Costa Rica                z. San Salvador 
   b. El Salvador               y. Tegucigalpa
   c. Guatemala                x. San Jose
   d. Honduras                 w. Guatemala City
   e. Nicaragua                v. Managua
   
   
   
   
   
   

ANSWERS: 1.Belize and Panama – 2.The best-known are the Maya and the Aztecs – 3.The Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea – 4. a-x;    b-z;    c-w;    d-y;    e-v