El Salvador’s traditions set this beautiful and unique country apart. Who else has a national holiday in honor of pupusas? And what other country celebrates Christmas with huge fireworks displays?
Let’s explore El Salvador, the country where more than 70,000 Compassion kids live, by learning more about El Salvador traditions.
What’s Here:
- El Salvador Traditions: Holidays & Celebrations
- Traditional Food in El Salvador
- Salvadoran Arts & Crafts
- El Salvador Traditions Reveal a Vibrant & Unique People
El Salvador Traditions: Holidays & Celebrations
El Salvador traditions around holidays include both common and more unknown celebrations.
Día de la Cruz
To start our list of El Salvador celebrations, we have Día de la Cruz or Day of the Cross. On May 3 every year, many Salvadorans decorate crosses with paper chains and display them prominently in their homes.
Offerings of fruit, candy, drinks, candles and other items surround these colorful crosses. Guests say prayers of thanks in front of the cross and then take an offering.
El Salvador Independence Day
One of the most beloved El Salvador traditions is Independence Day. El Salvador celebrates its independence on Sept. 15. Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua also celebrate on this day. All five countries jointly declared independence from Spain on this day in 1821.
Several days before Sept. 15, a torch begins its journey by hand through all five countries to commemorate the event. On Sept. 15, El Salvador celebrates with parades and street celebrations, including a parade of children.
Carnival de San Miguel
From October to November, the city of San Miguel in El Salvador hosts a series of celebrations. They culminate in one big street festival that takes place on Nov. 21, called the Carnival de San Miguel.
The festival is in honor of the patron of the city — the Virgen de la Paz, or the Virgin Mary. It is now one of the most famous celebrations in Central America. Thousands travel to the city to experience festive parades, musical performances and dances.
Christmas
Christmas in El Salvador is heavily influenced by U.S. Christmas traditions, including fake trees and artificial snow. However, the country has its own traditions too!
Fireworks explode throughout Christmas Eve. Families enjoy cassava with pork, roasted turkey and other traditional Salvadoran foods together. Of course, gifts are also given for Christmas in El Salvador.
Quinceañera
El Salvador adds its own flavor to the quinceañera, the well-known Latin American coming-of-age tradition for girls. Girls in El Salvador host a pink-themed fiesta rosa (rose party) on their 15th birthday. They often wear a beautiful pink dress because pink is traditionally a color of gratitude in El Salvador.
The color scheme shows the girl’s thankfulness to her parents and guests. Friends serve as attendants to the birthday girl, somewhat like bridesmaids, and guests give many presents.
The celebration may also include a religious service and the gift of a ring from the girl’s parents to signify her new status as an adult.
Easter
Easter is another tradition-filled time in El Salvador. The week of Easter is Holy Week, and the festivities revolve around Roman Catholic tradition.
Lent is one of the most important El Salvador traditions celebrated during Easter. And on Good Friday, there is the passion, the representation of the walk Jesus took with the cross toward Golgotha.
Traditional Food in El Salvador
Many interesting traditional foods are unique to El Salvador. Let’s dive into a few!
Pupusas
Pupusas are the national dish of El Salvador. They’re so popular that the second Sunday in November is a nationwide holiday celebrating them: National Pupusa Day!
To make a pupusa, you fill corn or rice flour pockets with meat, beans, cheese or other ingredients like vegetables. Some families in El Salvador do not have access to meat, so pupusas are often made with beans and cheese, like in this papusa recipe.
Quesadilla Salvadoreña
This is a traditional dish made from rice flour. It’s a sweet bread that’s like a cake and includes many unique ingredients like:
- Ajonjoli (sesame seeds).
- Queso duro blando (a semi-soft cheese).
- Cuayada (milk curds).
- Crema salvadoreña (like sour cream).
It is often sold by street vendors as a quick breakfast to enjoy with coffee.
Coffee
While coffee itself is not a unique food item, the Salvadoran specialty is green, or unroasted, coffee. This coffee is much milder in flavor with a hint of sweetness. Coffee is an El Salvador tradition that extends back to the early 1800s, when it was first cultivated. It still makes up over 50% of exports from El Salvador.
Tamales
Popular in several Latin American countries, tamales vary in their fillings and what they’re wrapped in. Salvadoran tamales come in banana leaves or corn husks. They tend to be milder in spice than Mexican tamales.
Related Read:7 Delicious & Unique Recipes From Around the World
Salvadoran Arts & Crafts
El Salvador traditions include many stunning trades and products unique to the country.
Textiles
Weavers in El Salvador create intricate scarves, blankets and purses on wooden looms called telares.
Textile artists add each individual thread using a wooden instrument called a shuttle, which they push over the loom by hand. The vibrant colors they use make the final product a joy to see!
Hammocks
El Salvador is also known for its creation — and use — of hammocks. In fact, the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador, sits in what is known as El Valle de las Hamacas, or the Valley of the Hammocks.
The name references the earthquakes that rock the city like the sway of a hammock, and it also shows how familiar hammocks are in the country.
Hammocks are common all over El Salvador. Hammocks created in the country are known globally for their quality and beauty. They’re hand-woven vertically between two poles and not made in a factory.
Pottery
El Salvador is known for its beautiful painted ceramics. Brought to El Salvador by Spanish settlers in the 18th century, the difficult technique is now passed down from generation to generation of artists.
The colorful and intricate designs in vases, wall decorations, animal representations and religious statues make them truly beautiful.
El Salvador Traditions Reveal a Vibrant & Unique People
El Salvador’s thriving traditions wouldn’t exist without people who are just as special. And we’re honored to serve some of them!
With 270 local church partners, Compassion currently ministers to over 70,000 children in El Salvador, working to release them from poverty in Jesus’ name.
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Join us in our mission to help children living in El Salvador break the chains of poverty in their lives.
