Holidays and Fiestas

Festival

V!VA User‘s Description

As is true in most of Latin America, Costa Ricans love to celebrate, and do so with a colorful flair. In San José the whole week from Christmas until New Years is an extended holiday, during which the citizenry throw white confetti at each other in lieu of snow.  As the country maintains a religious loyalty, many of Costa Rica's holidays derive from the distinctive brand of Latin Catholicism -- three of them center around the Virgin -- while others are patriotic in nature.

Below is a list national holidays:

      January 1st:  New Year’s Day.

      March 19th:  St. Joseph’s Day, patron saint of San Jose and San Jose province.

      Easter:  Holy Week, Semana Santa. Many businesses shut down for the duration of the week

      April 11th:  Juan Santamaria Day. Commemorates the victory over presumptuous would-be American imperialist William Walker at the Battle of Rivas in 1856.

      May 1st:  Labor Day. Dia de los Trabajadores

      June:  Corpus Christi June 29th:  St. Peter and St. Paul’s Day

      July 25th:  Guanacaste Day. This marks the annexation of Guanacaste Province from Nicaragua in 1824.

      August 2nd: Virgen de los Angeles Day. Patron saint of Costa Rica.

      August 15th:  Mother’s Day and Assumption Day

      September 15th:  Independence Day, Costa Rica’s independence from Spain in 1821. Lots of parades.

      October 12th:  Dia de la Raza (Columbus Day). Limited to the Limon province and featuring a carnival, which takes place in the week prior to October 12.

      November 2nd:  All soul’s Day

      December 8th:  Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

      December 25th: Christmas Day.