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Published on
Monday, September 14, 2026
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica will
celebrate its 205th Independence Day on
Tuesday, Sept. 15, with festivities
taking place across the country. The celebrations
will bring together Costa Rican
citizens, foreign residents and tourists
to experience the country’s patriotic
traditions through student and lantern
parades, concerts, fireworks,
traditional dances and folk music in
communities across the country. The official
celebration began Monday at 6 a.m. with
the arrival of the Independence Torch, a
symbol of freedom that travels each year
through Central America from Guatemala
to Panama. Minister of Public
Education José Leonardo
Sánchez-Hernández received the torch at
the General Directorate of Migration
station in Peńas Blancas Canton, Guanacaste
Province. From there, about
22,000 students selected by their
schools to represent the country for the
important national celebration, and
escorted by security officials, will
carry the flame across Costa Rica. The
torch will be passed from hand to hand
along a 230-mile route stretching from
the Nicaraguan border to the Panamanian
border.
The
torch is expected to reach Democracy
Square, or
Plaza de la Democracia, in San José at 6
p.m. Monday. Official
civic and cultural events will
be held to
welcome the patriotic flame.
Later
Monday, at 8 p.m., the symbol of freedom
will arrive at Cartago's
Plaza Mayor Central Park,
where President Laura Fernández-Delgado
will lead the Independence Day Eve
Ceremony in Cartago Province. Cartago
served as the country's first capital from
1821 to 1823.
One
of Costa Rica's most beloved Independence
Day traditions is the Children's Lantern
Parade, which
takes place in
central parks across the country.
Depending
on the school calendar, the parades will
be held on Monday evening beginning at 5
p.m. Children will carry handcrafted
lanterns while singing Costa Rican folk
songs and the national anthem.
The lantern parade tradition dates to 1953, when Víctor Manuel Ureńa Arguedas (1912-1995), then principal of San José School, organized the first lantern parade and encouraged teachers across the country to participate annually.
In San José, the
official Lantern Parade Ceremony will
take place at Democracy Square, led by Mayor
Luis Diego Miranda Méndez and other
officials. The event will feature folk
dances and a marching band performance
beginning at 6 p.m. The main
celebration will take place Tuesday with
the Independence Day Student Parade,
organized by the Ministry of Public
Education (MEP). Students and
school bands dressed in traditional
attire will perform folk music and
dances along the central streets of
towns throughout the country. In San José, the
day's official activities will begin at
9 a.m. with a floral offering at the National Monument. President
Fernández, accompanied by top government
officials, will then deliver the
traditional Independence Day speech at Democracy Square. Meanwhile, more
than 30 public schools and marching
bands will parade along Second Avenue,
from the Braulio Carrillo
Central Park to the Democracy Square, in the capital
during the city's annual student parade.
The festivities will conclude with a
fireworks display organized by the
Municipality of San José.
All
Independence Day activities will be broadcast
live
on SINART,
the state-owned Channel 13. Local
governments will host celebrations and
cultural activities in their respective
communities. Costa
Rica's Independence Day commemorates the
signing of the Act of Independence of
Central America on Sept. 15, 1821. At the
time, the Captaincy General of Guatemala,
which included Guatemala, Chiapas,
Comayagua, San Salvador, Nicaragua and
Costa Rica, declared independence from
Spain. For
Costa Ricans, the annual celebration is an
opportunity to honor the country's history
while bringing communities together
through music, traditional dances, student
performances and other cultural
traditions. The
MEP oversees Costa Rica's public education
system and implements policies and
programs to ensure access to free basic
public education nationwide. The
MOPT is
responsible for enforcing
traffic regulations and promoting
road safety nationwide.
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