Costa Rica's Independence Month: history and facts

September is Costa Rica's patriotic month: torch, lanterns and parades to celebrate the independence of 1821. Here is how the news actually reached the country, step by step, where those traditions come from and how the 15 September holiday works.

How independence arrived, step by step

Costa Rica became independent “without fighting a single battle”, as the National Archive puts it. The news travelled by mail from Guatemala and took 28 days to reach Cartago, then the capital. What followed were 16 days of deliberation among the town councils before signing an act of its own.

1. 1
   15 September 1821, Guatemala. The act of independence is signed and Guatemala sends the news to León, in Nicaragua.
2. 2
   28 September, León. The Act of the Clouds of the Day is signed, proposing to wait until “the clouds of the day” cleared before deciding.
3. 3
   13 October, Cartago. Guatemala's act and the Act of the Clouds arrive together.
4. 4
   25 October, the delegates. The town councils of San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Barva and Ujarrás are called to Cartago to decide.
5. 5
   29 October, its own act. A day after word came that León accepted independence, an open town council in Cartago signs the Act of Independence, accepted by the Spanish governor Juan Manuel de Cañas.
6. 6
   1 December, the first constitution. The Interim Fundamental Social Pact, known as the Concord Pact, is signed; it is considered Costa Rica's first political constitution.

Timeline

The Independence Torch, in figures

The Torch enters at Peñas Blancas on 13 September and reaches Cartago on the 14th, passed from student to student. Its creator, Alfredo Cruz Bolaños, conceived it this way: the students would stand for “the mail relays of those days”, the ones that brought the news from the north in 1821.

The longest leg, through Guanacaste, accounts for 150 of the 378 kilometres. The distance varies a little from year to year with the route: in 2024 CRHoy put it at 386 kilometres. In 2018, the run reached the Cartago Ruins at 8 p.m. on 14 September.

Curious facts

• There is a Costa Rican act of independence, but the national date is Guatemala's: Costa Rica's Act of Independence was signed in Cartago on 29 October 1821, with the signatures of 28 delegates according to La Nación.
• The lantern parade began in 1953 on the instruction of Víctor Manuel Ureña Arguedas, San José's provincial schools director: every 14 September at 6 p.m., according to the Ministry of Culture.
• In 2018 the Torch had a special stop: the garden of the National Children's Hospital in San José.
• The 2026 patriotic celebrations logo carried braille on the body of the torch, as a symbol of inclusion for people with visual impairments.
• The Cartago act even mentioned the possibility of joining Mexico, which never happened, according to La Nación.

Frequently asked questions

Is 15 September a public holiday?

Yes, with mandatory pay, under article 148 of the Labour Code. No one is required to work it; those who do, do so only if they agree, according to the Ministry of Labour.

How is it paid if worked?

According to the Ministry of Labour, those who work it get double pay: with weekly pay, the employer adds a single day for the holiday and another for working it; with monthly or fortnightly pay, the holiday is already included and one more day is added. Overtime that day is paid triple.

Is it moved to a Monday?

Not today. The holiday-moving laws to boost tourism moved it to a Monday in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In 2026 it was taken on Tuesday the 15th itself, and in 2027 it falls on a Wednesday.

Sources

• National Archive of Costa Rica: description of the Provincial Independiente collection (Act of the Clouds of the Day and Concord Pact).
• La Nación: “29 de octubre de 1821, la fecha olvidada de la independencia de Costa Rica”, by Kimberly Herrera (30 October 2021).
• Ministry of Public Education: “Revista 29 de octubre”, Cartago Regional Office (2022); circular DVM-AC-031-2018 on the Torch; and circular DM-CIR-0058-2026 on the patriotic celebrations (22 July 2026).
• CRHoy: “Antorcha de Independencia cumple 60 años de recorrido en Costa Rica” (13 September 2024) and “¿Desde hace cuándo se hace el desfile de faroles en Costa Rica?” (14 September 2024).
• Ministry of Labour and Social Security: press release on the 15 September holiday (10 September 2026) and 2026 holiday calendar.
• Labour Code, article 148 and its transitional provision (current text in the Costa Rican Legal Information System).