Santa Clara is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

San Vicente Department San Vicente () is a department of El Salvador in the center of the country. The capital is San Vicente. On October 4, 1834, San Vicente City of Austria and Lorenzana (Ciudad de San Vicente de Austria y Lorenzana) was made the capital of State ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. It is located approximately east of

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

and approximately from San Vicente. The municipality has approximately 9,750 residents. The town is known for its fiestas and cultural traditions throughout the year, starting in August with Fiestas Patronales, in July the patron San Jose, and in December, the annual

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

carnaval.

Geography

Santa Clara is a municipality of the

. It is located towards the southeast of the centre of the country to the east of San Salvador and lies at an altitude of 590m. Bordering to the north is the municipality of San Esteban Catarina to the north east the municipality of

Apastepeque Apastepeque is a municipality in the San Vicente Department, El Salvador. It is located approximately 50 km east of San Salvador and approximately 6 km from San Vicente, El Salvador, San Vicente. The town has approximately 10,000 resid ...

, to the east with

San Ildefonso San Ildefonso (), La Granja (), or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the Province of Segovia, in the Castile and León autonomous region of central Spain. It is located in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mounta ...

, to the south with Ciudad de San Vicente (the department capital) and to the west with the municipality of San Cayetano Istepeque. It is 6 km from Ciudad de San Vicente and 60 km from San Salvador.

Arts and culture

Saint James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

(Santiago apóstol) is the patron saint of Santa Clara. Santa Clara is a town with a rich religious and cultural tradition and character that fuses together the elements of precolonial and colonial influences with those of the new generation. One of the monuments in Santa Clara of great renown is the church that was built during the colonial period. However, it has been damaged several times due to

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s and recently underwent a reconstruction after the 2001 disaster. Notable fiestas are celebrated in the city such as that between August 12 to the 25 in honor of the patrona saint Saint Santa Clarita de Asis (Santiago Apóstol), where they indulge in much religious, cultural and social activity such as masquerades, dances and concerts.

Economy

Traditionally, the economy of the city has been based on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, mostly

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

and cultivation.

Sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

forms a crucial pillar of the economy. The sugar cane is appreciated not only as a food product but for its medicinal qualities.

References

{{San Vicente Department Municipalities of the San Vicente Department