Salvador del Mundo monument
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El Salvador del Mundo
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When:
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1 - 7 Aug 2008 (annual)
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Where:
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San Salvador
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El Salvador celebrates a multitude of saint's days every year, but El Salvador del Mundo - a nationwide week-long festival in celebration of the nation's patron saint - is the most important.
The festivities always take place in the first week of August - to pay due respect to Jesus Christ, the "Divine Saviour of the World", El Salvadorans feel obliged to start partying well in advance.
The best place to enjoy the action is in the capital, San Salvador. The city centre turns into a massive party, the plazas fill with dancers and the streets with floats and impromptu parades. The atmosphere is decidedly more carnival than religious, with music everywhere, street performers and crowds dressed in gaudy colours.
When you're not drinking your umpteenth toast to honour the particular manifestation of Christ held sacred by Salvadorians, take some time to look around this former Spanish colony. Despite a long civil war and frequent earthquakes, many old colonial churches have been preserved.
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