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Featured Events

December: Audubon bird count. This annual count established by the National Audubon Society takes place from mid-December to the first week of January around the country.

January: Flowering season for the Rose Imperial. El Poró-Poró (Cochlospermum vitifolium), a tree commonly found on the Pacific Coast, loses its leaves in December and early January, just in time for the flowering season, an amazing spectacle that leaves behind only their bright yellow flowers.

December

	EVENT
December 15	Christmas Festival of Lights El Festival de la Luz is an elaborate Christmas parade of brightly lit floats and marching bands along San Jose's Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda. Until recently, the event was marked by the avenidazo.
December 24-25	The Rooster Mass Many Costa Ricans can be found at midnight on Christmas Eve celebrating the Misa del Gallo (Rooster Mass), after sharing dinner and opening their christmas gifts from Baby Jesus. Christmas day sees the family gather again for a large lunch.
December 25-January 6	Christmas Carnival Celebrated countrywide with dances, dinners and fireworks, as well as the traditional countdown, and repetition of the song Año Viejo by Gilberto Santa Rosa.
December 31	New Year's eve Celebrated countrywide with dances, dinners and fireworks, as well as the traditional countdown, and repetition of the song Año Viejo by Gilberto Santa Rosa.
December	Motion in the Ocean It's breeding season for the giant humpback whales who migrate down the Pacific Coast from the North Hemisphere in search of tropical waters.

January

	EVENT
January 9-21	Biggest party of the year Palmares celebrates its town carnival, known as the biggest party in Costa Rica, which is attended by almost a million people each year. The celebration includes concerts, a theme park, typical food stands, fireworks, a famous horse parade and record-breaking alcohol consumption.
January 14-20	Traditional Santa Cruz Parties Similar to Palmares, but on a slightly smaller scale, the fiestas de Santa Cruz are characterized by the area’s agrarian traditions. Expect to see cowboys on horseback, bullfights, dancing, horse parades and more in this cultural center of Guanacaste.
January	The stork arrives Newly born Jabiru, a long stork coomon throughout the Americas, may be observed this season in the Mata Redonda Lagoon, Sonzapote and Corral de Piedra of Palo Verde National Park, the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge and the Guatusos Lowlands.