Costa Rica loves to celebrate! The country has a year-long system of regional festivals. No month of the year goes without a major festival in one part of the country or another. Few activities will give you insight into Costa Rica and its people the way a festival can.

January is the month for the Palmares fiestas, one of the most anticipated gatherings in the nation. Dancing, concerts, carnival, horse parade (tope), music, and Costa Rican style bullfighting are all part of the Festivales Palmares, running the first two weeks of the year, immediately following Christmas, when family and friends are still on vacation and in the throes of the holiday season.

The week of January 15th is the Fiestas de Alajuelita, with an ox-cart parade to honor Santo Christo de Esquipulas, and a religious procession to the top of the mountain just south of San Jose which sports the large metallic cross of Alajuelita which can be seen shining above San Jose at night. This patron saint is also honored in Santa Cruz of Guanacaste with dances, bull fights, and music.

February is the time for the Fiesta de los Diablitos, a highly energetic and colorful celebration in the indigenous village of Boruca in Re Curre. The festival centers on a dance dating back to the days of Spanish conquest, and reconstructs the struggle between the indigenous tribes of Costa Rica (the little devils, or diablitos) and the Spaniards (represented by a bull). All are encouraged to participate, and visitors frequently have the time of their lives at this fiesta.

Also in February is the San Isidro de General Festivales, with cattle shows, flower expositions, and bullfighting. The last week of February is reserved for the Carnivales de Puntarenas, with a tremendous ongoing party under the sun, at the beach, with music, dances, games, food, crafts, and expositions.

March hosts the Oxcart Parade in San Antonio de Escazu, a highly colorful procession and celebration and competition of the traditional hand painted “boyeros”, or oxcarts, which roll through the streets in magnificent fashion, including blessings by the parish priests for the oxcarts and the produce they carry. Other highlights of March are the internationally acclaimed orchid expositions and the Ujarras procession to the oldest church in Costa Rica.

Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is celebrated in March and April, and is perhaps the most widely celebrated holiday in the nation. Most Costa Ricans abandon their Central Valley homes and flock in droves to the beach, national parks, and mountain cabinas to be with family. Semana Santa is like a nationwide Spring Break, with the addition of religious processions throughout the country for this Easter celebration.

Juan Santamaria Day falls on April 11th, and the national hero (a young barefoot boy who dared to burn down the house where William Walker was hiding) is celebrated throughout the country with school bands, parades, student dance exhibitions, and colorful traditional dress.

May, June, and July’s celebrations are the most calm of the year, with Labor Day (Dia del Trabajo) falling on may 1st and representing a long weekend for Costa Ricans. Limon celebrates with cricket, dominoes, and dance competitions. Harvest blessings and local harvest celebrations take place in mid-May, and local posters on billboards and telephone polls will lead you to the local, often very charming festivities. July heats up on the Nicoya Peninsula with the celebration of the Virgin del Mar (Virgin of the Ocean) on the Saturday near July 16th. A highly popular and colorful celebration is marked by decorating boats, yachts, and dinghies that flock to crowd the Gulf in celebration of the Sea. Also in July is the Mango Festival in Alajuela, and the Annexation of Nicoya falls on the 25th.

August’s festivities belong to Santo Domingo de Heredia, one of Costa Rica’s oldest neighborhoods, which has become an entire city in its own right. Local festivities range far and wide and are publicized throughout the area.

August 2nd is the day of the Patron Saint of Costa Rica, and is celebrated with an enormous pilgrimage to the Basilica of Cartago. Over one million people will participate in this pilgrimage every year, and freeways throughout the capital and all the way to Cartago are stuffed with the faithful and curious walking their way to the town lying east of San Jose.

August 30th is San Ramon day, and is celebrated throughout the entire area near San Ramon with parades, food, music, and dancing.

September hosts Costa Rica’s Independence Day, and is celebrated throughout the country with traditional red, white, and blue dress, topes, dancing, music, and local festivals and expositions. A torch is brought by school children running relay, from Nicaragua, which is met with a moment of silence throughout the nation, when all stop and sing the National Anthem. Night-time light parades occur throughout the country, with school children carrying lanterns and singing songs.

October and November are the heaviest of Costa Rica’s rainy season, but the Caribbean Coast experiences a “veranilla”, or little summer, and does not miss the opportunity to celebrate. Limon Carnivales surround the date of October 12th, and are the most colorful, festive occurrence of the year. Food, dancing, drink, games, and tremendous costumes and competitions for such mark the Carnivale in Limon.

November 2nd is All Saints Day, when the cemeteries of Costa Rica fill with family to honor their dead with flowers and food offerings, and tidying of the grave sites. November 2nd also marks the beginning of the International Arts Festival in San Jose, where visitors find endless celebration with street theater, dance, music, and a plethora of cultural activities for all ages, in San Jose’s museums, streets, theaters, cultural centers, and parks.

The week of December 8th hosts the Fiesta de los Negritos, again in the indigenous village of Boruca, and ancient ritual combined with Catholic tradition, and is a tremendous show of colorful costumes, inspiring music, and dancing.

On December 25th, Christmas Day, the Festivals of Zapote begin and the wild inner-city festival in San Jose marks the end of the year with tremendous, raucous fun that spills into the surrounding streets and into the wee hours of the morning. Amusement park rides, horse parades, dances, food, drinks, bullfights, and a celebration of Carnivale are all part of the Fiestas de Zapote.

Then the first week of January it begins again........