Costa Rica celebrates Afro-Costa Rican Culture Day on Saturday, August 31 with a Grand Gala Parade in Limón Beach, Limón Province.

Talks, creative workshops, food stands, Calypso band musical performances, civic events, book presentations, conferences, sports events, and traditional games are just a few of the activities on offer throughout the festival, announced the Ministry of Culture.

The parade will start Saturday at 11:30 a.m. from the Asís Esna Park and pass through Limón's Main St.

The event celebrates the country's Afro-descendant history and underlines the importance of safeguarding the community's rights.

The Limón Black Ethnic Cultural Civic Committee Association hosted the festival as part of Costa Rica's Historic Month of Afro-descendants celebrations.

Margareth Simpson, director of the Committee, remarked that the festival allows enjoying and learning about Afro-Costa Rican culture.

The Grand Gala Parade has been declared as Costa Rica's Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022.

Costa Rica first proclaimed August 31 as Black Peoples and Afro-Costa Rican Culture Day in 1980.

In 2018, Costa Rica designated August as the Historic Month of Afro-descendants.  The United Nations Human Rights Office defines "Afro-descendants" or "African diaspora" as communities descended from Africans who live globally.


The day commemorates the Convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which took place from August 1 to August 31, 1920, in New York City, United States, and approved the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.

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