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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Costa Rica

The list of Costa Rica bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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29 Nov 2008 (La Nación-San José) Costa Rica's 2005 movable public holidays law is set to suffer one more blow as Costa Rican deputies have introduced a bill that would the practice of moving the July 25, "Anexión de Guanacaste", public holiday to the nearest Monday, when it fall on a mid-week weekday. • 28 Nov 2008 (Diario Extra) Following yesterday's Cabinet meeting, the ministro de la Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias, announced that all central government employees, offices and agencies will be closed from Friday night, December 19, 2008, until Monday morning, January 5, 2009. • 17 Jul 2008 (Diario Extra) An initiative in Parliament to make the Guanacaste Annexation public holiday always fall on its historic date of July 25 (as opposed to the nearest Monday, as is the case since law 8604 of 2007) has been thwarted by a procedural deluge of 237 motions tabled by the Libertarian Party (who had instituted the 2007 law moving some public holidays to the nearest Monday). • 11 Mar 2008 (National NCS) Costa Rican banks and financial institutions will be closed on Wednesday, December 31, 2008. • 05 Oct 2007 (La Gaceta Digital) Costa Rica's deputies have passed Law 8604 of 17 September 2007 which amends article 148, paragraph two of the Labor Code, Law 2 of 26 August 1943 and its amendments. • 10 Aug 2007 (Teletica) Despite efforts by many members of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly, the law moving Mothers' Day from August 15 to the next Monday was not repealed, and the Mothers' Day public holiday, in Costa Rica, will occur on Monday, August 20, in 2007, as previously forecast. • 14 Jun 2007 (Telenoticias) The Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica is moving ahead with a revision of this year's decision to make some of the Costa Rica public holidays move to the nearest Monday (specifically: April 11, July 25, August 15, and October 12). • 10 Apr 2007 (Teletica 7) Civil servants, teachers and professors in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica's second most important province, will be entitled to a double public holiday, tomorrow, April 11, on the anniversary of Juan Santamaria, and again on Monday April 16. • 28 Mar 2007 (La Nación) All public school students, as well as teaching and administrative staff who work for the Ministry of Education (MEP), will be on holidays for 3 additional days, from Monday to Wednesday, April 2 to 4, which added to the following Thursday and Friday (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday). • 15 Jan 2007 (Al Día) The legislation that aims to rescind the moving of some public holidays to the nearest Monday, lead by Saturnino Fonseca and Lorena Vázquez, leader of the PUSC group in the assembly, is gathering steam. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Costa Rica public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: The list and dates of official public holidays in Costa Rica are regulated by Article 148 of Costa Rica's Labour code of 1943, as amended over the years, and most recently, in 2007, by the Legislative Decree Nº 8604 (Reforma del Segundo Párrafo del Artículo 148 del Código De Trabajo, Ley N.º 2, y sus Reformas) of September 17. • Unpaid Public Holidays: Two of the public holidays listed in the Labour Code are classified as public holidays with no obligation on an employer's part to pay his/her employees (feriados de pago no obligatorio). These 2 public holidays are: August 2 (Día de la Virgen de los Ángeles) and October 12 (Día de las Culturas or Día de la Raza). • Middle of the Week Public Holidays: The Labour Code was amended on May 10, 2005, so that some of the public holidays that fall on a weekend be moved to the nearest Monday. The effect of these rules is already included in the above listing. • There are special rules for 2 of the above public holidays: Lady of the Angels Day and Columbus Day. These rules mean that a business being open, or individual workers being present, will vary from one business to the other . • The whole country practically shuts down the week before Easter and the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Central Bank of Costa Rica (Costa Rica central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Costa Rica, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Costa Rica, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Costa Rica, before planning any trip to Costa Rica. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.