Belize Event Calendar

Belize Event Calendar

The top seasonal events for Belize are listed below, and any one of them could provide the stuff of lasting memories. If you want your visit to coincide with one of these occasions, be sure to plan well in advance.

Winter

Dec.

Christmas Bird Count, late December, usually the 30th, is the Belize Audubon Society's annual Bird Count, held in Belize City, Gallon Jug, and elsewhere. Another count is held in the spring.

Jan.

Horse Races, New Year's Day, are traditional at Burrell Boom.

Spring

Mar.

A grueling, multiday canoe race, La Ruta Maya is the longest race of its kind in Central America. Held in early March, (it's scheduled to begin March 9 in 2007 and March 7 in 2008) it runs 170 mi (279 km) from San Ignacio to Belize City on the Belize River over the course of four days.

Baron Bliss Day, celebrated on the second Monday in March, is when Belize City locals give three cheers for Baron Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss, a wealthy English sportsman who offered Belize an immense estate in return for a holiday devoted to sailing and fishing.

San Pedro is one of the few places in Belize where Carnaval gets any attention. It's not Rio or New Orleans, but the town puts on parades, music, and street dancing performances during the week before Lent. On Fat Tuesday, it's paint day, and anyone on the streets might be splashed by a mixture of water and paint.

Apr.

Bring a picnic lunch to Sarteneja on Easter Sunday for the sailboat regatta and races, when the usually sleepy fishing villages come alive with visitors and boaters. San Ignacio also has a two-day Easter Fair, with music, games, and sports.

May

In Belize, Crooked Tree celebrates the local cash crop with the annual Cashew Festival. Held the first weekend of the month, the festival includes sale of jams, jellies, juices, preserves, and other delicacies produced here. On May 24 the country celebrates Commonwealth Day, which commemorates the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, with a bicycle race from Belize City to San Ignacio.

Summer

June

The Día de San Pedro, a three-day festival honoring St. Peter, is celebrated June 27-29 in San Pedro. The early morning boat parade, usually on the 29th, is the highlight.

Lobster Festivals are held in Caye Caulker and Placencia to celebrate the beginning of the lobster-fishing season (June 15). The dates of the festivals vary from year to year.

Aug.

The Mopan Maya village of San Antonio in Toledo observes the Día de San Luis Rey in August (early September some years) with religious ceremonies and the Deer Dance. A similar festival including the Deer Dance is celebrated in San Pedro Columbia, a Ketchi village, on Easter. The San Pedro Costa Maya Festival, held in mid-August, is a four-day multicultural bash with musical concerts, a beauty pageant, and other events that takes place on Ambergris Caye.

Fall

Sept.

The Battle of St. George's Caye celebrates the David-and-Goliath defeat of the Spanish navy by a motley crew of British settlers, buccaneers, and liberated slaves. This week of merrymaking in Belize begins September 10.

Guatemalans around Tikal and nationwide celebrate their Independence Day on September 15 with traditional music, dances, and costumes.

September 21 is National Independence Day in Belize, honoring the country's independence from Great Britain in 1981.

Oct.

Thousands of dollars in prizes are awarded at the Belikin Spectacular: Blue Water Fishing Tourament, in San Pedro for the largest marlin, sailfish, wahoo, barracuda, tuna, and other fish caught on Pan-American Day in mid-October.

Nov.

On All Saints' Day, also known as Day of the Dead, is celebrated November 1, in Guatemala, but much less so in Belize. Some Maya villages in Toledo observe All Saints' Day and also, on November 2, All Souls' Day.

Garífuna Settlement Day, November 19, marks the arrival of Black Carib settlers, known as Garífunas, from the West Indies in 1823. Processions and traditional dancing are held throughout Belize, especially in Dangriga, and increasingly in Punta Gorda and also in Hopkins and elsewhere.