Costa Rica will celebrate Mother’s Day on Wednesday, August 15^th, 2012 with a national holiday, on the same day that the Roman Catholic faithful celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Heaven. Mother’s Day in Costa Rica has always been one of the country’s most important holiday celebrations, and while it has seen a number of transformations from a deeply religious event to a joyful shopping occasion thanks to the growth of consumer culture, honoring the rite of motherhood is still very important for all Ticos.

Like in other Latin American countries, the Tico father figure as the head of household does not preclude streaks of matriarchal family relations. It is important to remember that Costa Rica has a religious matron -La Negrita, Our Lady of the Angels– and that, compared to other Central American nations, Ticas have enjoyed a esteemed place in society that goes beyond the domestic realm.

While Ticas appreciate the respect and honor that they rightfully deserve when they breathe new life into Costa Rica, they have also struggled to let us know that motherhood should not rule out their rights to pursue ideals and activities that other members of society are entitled too. Tica mothers want to raise their families with loving intent, but they also wish to be allowed to part of certain industries and social groups that are not limited to the household. Just like Laura Chinchilla Miranda is our President and proud mother of Jose Maria Rico Chinchilla (born in 1996), many other Ticas want to reach empowering goals that in the end benefit society as a whole.

The changing role of mothers and women in general in Costa Rica is often the subject of media coverage in the days prior to August 15^th holiday. Two underlying themes seem to emerge from these reports: Tica mothers who step into non-traditional roles and the reactions they face when they do so:

Mothers from Cartago who fix cars and climb mountains

Diario Extra reported on Shaylin Rojas and Rita Alvarado, two women from Cartago that certainly defy the traditional views of mothers in Costa Rica.

Shaylin is a young auto technician and also a student who somehow manages to balance her maternal life with her work and academic duties. Shaylin has been working in her father’s auto shop for about 15 years. About two years ago, Shaylin was pregnant and finishing up replacement of a cylinder core on a Saturday evening when she felt contractions. Later that night, her daugher Daliana was born. Shaylin now sees herself as a little girl reflected in Daliana:

“She is a handful, but I can do my job with her around. She already knows the tools and even some of the machine screws […] she likes cars, not Barbie dolls; I guess she was born with a preference for auto repair.”

Shaylin confesses that although people respect her chosen profession, that she still feels that people see her decision as awkward. She adds that just because she gets dirty at work does not mean she has to abandon her femininity.

Rita Alvarado is a grandmother at 54 years of age. She was the first woman from Costa Rica to climb Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, one of the most challenging Andean peaks. Dona Rita became interested in mountaineering as a little girl in the Girl Scouts. She has been climbing for 25 years, and she once reached the summit of Chimborazo with her firstborn son on the same rope. She is just as adventurous as Warner Rojas, the first Tico to summit Mount Everest earlier this year.

Dona Rita told Diario Extra about an unpleasant experience she faced in Ecuador during the summit expedition with her son. The leaders of expedition laughed at her and one even told her that:

“tomorrow I can take you to the souvenir market to buy some nice purses. -I told him: No, I did not come here to buy purses and I don’t need you to take me. I came to summit.“

Dona Rita confessed that her anger led to tears, but that did not stop her from climbing the peak with her son. They were the only Ticos in the expedition to make the summit.

A Tica Mother in the Public Eye

The former Vice-Minister of Youth and Cultural Affairs, Karina Bolanos, managed to keep a low profile during her six years of government service. A recent profile written by Alvaro Murillo in the national newspaper La Nacion explains that Dona Karina, who has a teenage daughter, became the subject of public scrutiny after a report in daily print tabloid La Teja (which is part of the Grupo Nacion publishing empire) revealed that a restrictive order was filed against her by a jilted lover. Minister Manuel Obregon apparently requested her resignation at that time, but she stood firm.

Prior to her post at the Ministry, Dona Karina was a French teacher who worked at the Santa Maria de Guadalupe high school in Santo Domingo de Heredia. She was a single mother at that time, and she moved in the circles of the National Liberation Party (PLN in Spanish), the long running bastion of social democratic political power in Costa Rica. She was referred to the post of Vice-Minister by Rodrigo Arias, brother of former President and Peace Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias.

For six years Dona Karina traveled the world, representing Costa Rica’s cultural and youth interests, and in 2009 she may have been in South Africa when she recorded the infamous lovelorn video that prompted her firing. That incident not only cost her consternation, but also her marriage to PLN legislator Victor Hugo Viquez. When Dona Karina chose to speak to CNN en Espanol about the matter, she mentioned her deep concern for her daughter’s perception of the news event that spread like wildfire, particularly on the salacious-loving Spanish language media.

Dona Karina has apologized in public for her behavior, and if in fact the video was made public by a scorned lover, then it can be assumed that her former lover is less than a man for doing so. But after the initial commotion died down, an interesting question arose: can the rigors of a high-ranking post in the government of Costa Rica too much to handle for a mother? With more Ticas being elected and appointed to politically-charged positions, how will that affect perception of motherhood?