Mansión De Chocolate: Cleaning the streets of Granada

Hello Readers and welcome back to a new blog, made by Mansión De Chocolate. Last Friday the Mansión De Chocolate team helped cleaning the streets of Granada, with an organization. It is important to us to help the community in such a way. 

First of all we started at 8am in the central park of Granada. this was our meeting point and a lot of people showed up. There were students, employees of tour companies, hostels and hotels who wanted to help cleaning the streets of Granada.

Meeting point at Central Park

After gathering at the central park, we all started to walk through town over the streets and picked up whatever garbage we could find. As you can see a lot of the young ones of Nicaragua helped with cleaning the streets of Granada. While walking people cleaned the streets, wearing gloves. after a few hours of walking and cleaning. here is a small impression of how the cleaning went that morning.

Cleaning team Walking through the streets

Cleaning the streets of Granada

Folklore in Nicaragua: The Culture of Nicaragua part2

Hello readers! And welcome to a new blog made by Mansión De Chocolate. We have spoken about traveling through Nicaragua, food in Granada and art in Granada. But what is culture of Nicaragua?

Palo de Mayo

Palo de Mayo is a traditional dance which originated in the bluefields area, Nicaragua in the 17^th century. The Nicaraguans celebrate Palo de Mayo throughout whole Nicaragua.  Like the name says Palo de Mayo, this festival is in may(mayo).

Considered the highest expression of culture and tradition of the Caribbean of Nicaragua, the first of may starts with a presentation around a tree which is decorated with colored ribbons around the whole tree. Dances are performed around these colored trees as they welcome the rainy season, production and new life.

It attracts spectators from all the surrounding areas and from all over the country who not only witness the activity but also commit with energy and joy to this activity.

With Palo de Mayo everybody comes together to prepare their colorful costumes and dances that come with there carriages, after this the people will compete with each other.

Throughout the month of May and especially on weekends, a variety of culture events happen at night. They highlight all kinds of dances, sensual dances and movements are shown, known as the afro-carribbean dances. But also dances like zumba.

This festival is a must see, everyone I have spoken in Granada that likes dancing, says the same. It is a festival that disappeared in other countries where it was celebrated, but in Nicaragua it gets passed on from generation to generation.

Palo de Mayo, dancing around the colored ribbons

A very famous and typical Caribbean dish at the festival is, El rondo. A soup made of coconut, fish and a lot more, it is delicious!!

El Rondon

San Jeronimo

The last day of the month November is the kick off of the longest festival in Nicaragua, the San Jeronimo celebrations of Masaya. Today is the day the little big saint leaves the dark confines of the church and is carried around on the shoulders of his faithful followers throughout the streets of the village. And if that was all it would hardly warrant making it onto our list. Luckily, there is more.

Following the saint is the parade of the Torovenado, even bigger than the one in January. True to the satirical spirit of the indigenous Nicaraguans, the roving parade ranges from magical creatures plucked from local folklore to costumes of local politicians alive and dead, famous and forgotten, as well as enough demons and devils to scare the daylights of any kids who dare go to visit.

It happens during the day and at night there are usually big parties scattered around town. If you are in Nicaragua during this month then you have to go!

Streets of Masaya Full during San Jeronimo

Folklore in Nicaragua: The Culture of Nicaragua

Hello readers! And welcome to a new blog made by Mansión De Chocolate. We have spoken about traveling through Nicaragua, food in Granada and art in Granada. But what is culture of Nicaragua?

Nicaragua is a very big country in Latin America. Nicaragua’s deep love for preserving its own cultural identity has brightly passed its unique traditions and customs to current generations.

Language

Spanish, or Nicañol as Nicaraguan Spanish is sometimes referred to, is spoken by 90% of the country's population. In the Caribbean coast many afro-Nicaraguans and creoles speak English and creole English as their first language. Also in the Caribbean coast, many Indigenous people speak their native languages, such as the Miskito, Sumo, Rama and Garifuna language.

Folklore

The International Festival of Poetry performed in the colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua each year in February, has as a main ingredient, the vibrant folklore, represented through authentic folk music and original dances. When traveling Nicaragua one can also witness the colorful comedy-ballet play of “El Gueguense”, a street play created by the Nicaraguan “Mestizos” in the middle of the XVII century. "El Gueguense" has been declared by UNESCO as “Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. Another interesting folkloric manifestation is the “leaf-cutter ant dance” performed each year in Altagracia, Ometepe Island. But the folklore is not merely restricted to the Pacific of Nicaragua; it goes beyond borders into the Caribbean. Bluefields, Pearl Lagoons, the Corn Islands and other important Nicaraguan Caribbean destinations also have their own unique identity, where the colorful and traditional “May Pole” festival mixes history, customs, culinary heritage, and especially lively dances and cheers.

El Gueguense

Masaya the big folklore city

Masaya is known as “The Cradle of Nicaraguan Folklore”. Everyone I have spoken in Nicaragua talks about Masaya being the center of Folklore and this is why.

Agüizotes which is held in Masaya, is Masaya’s biggest, scariest festival that happens on the last Friday of the month. What is it? It is a parade that continues to late in the night and morning, with a lot of scary masked, and other dressed up types of people dancing through the street and spreading fire. They try to scare everyone. 

A devil Playing with fire

The name Agüizotes comes from the harbinger of death in local lore, the guis bird. It is a small yellow and white finch with giant horns. The cheep of the guis is a sure sign death is imminent to someone, somewhere in the world.

Be aware of the dead

 The festival takes place on the last Friday of October. It starts at sundown, when people dress like ghosts and using masks, dance through the street, accompanied by music and fireworks.

Every year, dozens of tourists, both Nicaraguans and foreigners, arrive in Masaya to attend the festival, which also attracts a lot of travellers, amazed by the hundreds of candles that are lit by participants.

Los Agüizotes are a series of characters such as men without heads, witches, devils and ghosts, that are part of the Nicaraguan folklore and tradition.

Different masks of different characters