Juan Santamaría Day: the Battle of Rivas and 11 April

Every 11 April, Costa Rica remembers the 1856 Battle of Rivas and Juan Santamaría, the soldier from Alajuela who set fire to the inn where William Walker's filibusters were entrenched. Here is the story step by step, how the public holiday came about and some little-known facts.

The story, step by step

1. 1
   1855, Walker arrives. In the middle of Nicaragua's civil war, Byron Cole offers the Democratic leader Francisco Castellón 300 recruits; William Walker asks to call them “settlers” and Castellón makes him a colonel.
2. 2
   1856, Costa Rica goes to war. After facing the filibusters at Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, the Costa Rican army advances to the Nicaraguan town of Rivas.
3. 3
   11 April 1856, the Mesón. Walker attacks Rivas and his men hold out in the Mesón de Guerra. Lieutenant Luis Pacheco Bertora tries to burn it and falls badly wounded; then the Nicaraguan Joaquín Rosales tries. Finally, Juan Santamaría sets it on fire, at the cost of his life.
4. 4
   Late April 1856, cholera. The troops withdraw to Costa Rica and bring the epidemic with them: an estimated ten thousand people died.
5. 5
   1 May 1857, the surrender. With the five Central American countries allied, Walker surrenders to the US captain Charles Davis.
6. 6
   1915-1916, the holiday. Alajuela deputy Aristides Agüero Salazar proposes making 11 April a national holiday; Law 26 is approved on 18 June 1915 and the first official celebration is held in Alajuela in 1916.

Timeline

The National Campaign, in figures

To put the cholera blow in perspective: eight years after the epidemic, the 1864 census counted 120,499 inhabitants in the whole country. On 12 April 1856, according to the Juan Santamaría Museum, Rivas woke up with hundreds of dead and wounded in its streets.

Curious facts

• The war's first public holiday was not 11 April but 1 May: Decree XXXV of 1857 declared it to remember Walker's surrender.
• Juan Santamaría's statue (1891) and the National Monument (1895) were unveiled on a 15 September, not on an 11 April.
• In the 1857 resolution granting his mother a pension, the Government calls him “the drummer Juan Santamaría”; her request, published in La Gaceta in 1900, says he was nicknamed “el Erizo” (the Hedgehog).
• In 2010, a draft resolution in the Legislative Assembly (file 17,866) noted that there was no official legislative declaration of Juan Santamaría as a national hero.
• Walker never ruled again: after further attempts to return to Central America, he was executed by firing squad in Trujillo, Honduras, on 12 September 1860.

Frequently asked questions

Is 11 April a public holiday in Costa Rica?

Yes. Article 148 of the Labour Code lists it among the public holidays with mandatory pay. In 2026 it fell on a Saturday and in 2027 it falls on a Sunday.

Is it moved to Monday?

No. It was only moved by law in 2023, to the Monday before, and in 2024, to the Monday after; in 2026 the Ministry of Labour confirmed it was not moved. A bill filed on 11 May 2026 (file 25,593) proposes moving it to the following Monday, but it is still in committee and is not law.

Why is the main celebration held in Alajuela?

Because Juan Santamaría was from Alajuela and the 1915 law came from Alajuela deputies. Since 1916, the city has hosted government authorities that day, along with students from all over the country who parade in tribute to the heroes of 1856.

Sources

• Juan Santamaría Historical and Cultural Museum: “11 de abril, una Fiesta Nacional en Alajuela”, Guiños de 1856-1857, issue 28 (April 2026).
• Juan Santamaría Historical and Cultural Museum: leaflet on the Battle of Rivas.
• Legislative Assembly: file 17,866, draft resolution declaring Juan Santamaría National Hero and Liberator (28 September 2010), with the 1857 pension request.
• Institute for Economic Research (UCR): population according to the censuses from 1864 to 2000 (table 101).
• SINALEVI: Labour Code, article 148 and its transitional provision (Laws 9875, 10396 and 10438).
• Ministry of Labour and Social Security: press release on the Holy Week and 11 April holidays (26 March 2026).
• Delfino: file 25,593, “Feriados con Propósito” bill (filed on 11 May 2026).