Día del Indio

Día del Indio

Posted by Ashley Hoover

Every 20th of July in Honduras, they celebrate "Día del Indio" (Indian Day) remembering a national heroe, the indian Lempira. According to history, he assembled a group of indigenous people to help ward off the Spanish conquistadors. The indians fought valiently against the much better armed Spaniards and held the off for a while. There are a few different stories of how he died it's generally said the Spanish killed him while offering peace since they couldn't defeat them.

The indian Lempira is remembered in various way during the celebration. There is a hymn that is sung recounting his deeds and the children dress up in native clothes. Many schools have a contest and choose the "Indio bonito" and "India bonita" which are the boy and girl with the best outfit. Sometimes they also have parades or typical foods focused on different indigenous groups of Honduras.

My school children celebrated the day in style. Here are a few pictures:

Starting of the festivities with the history of Lempira.

A group about to perform a dance.

Reciting a poem.

The Kindergarten's turn.

Some of the girls all dressed up.

And the boys.

The different grades put together displays of various indigenous groups.