Belize is a nation that likes to celebrate, so time your visit with one of the wonderfully diverse events throughout the year and get down and party with the locals. Fancy getting your taste buds tingling with Lobsterfest in June, or shaking your thing with the locals during Carnival in February?
Originally know as Columbus Day, Pan-American Day in Belize is a celebration of the migrations of the Mestizos and indigenous cultural groups from the Yucatan into Belize, creating the country we know today.
Garifuna Settlement Day celebrates the arrival of the first Garifuna in 1832, descendants of the Black Caribbeans who were first deported from St Vincent in 1797. Processions, live music, drumming and traditional dancing are held throughout Belize, but especially in Dangriga, the spiritual home of the Garifuna.
The Toledo District of southern Belize is today home to the organic cacao orchards and farms where the pods are grown extensively, harvested and processed and transformed into chocolate. The area comes to life in May to celebrate with ‘CacaoFest’.
The whole of Belize celebrates carnival, but nowhere parties quite like San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. With live music, street dancing, myriad food stalls and paint flying in all directions, it's not for the faint hearted!
The start of lobster season sees celebrations running in the main coastal hubs from Ambergris Caye in the north to Placencia in the south, where the streets burst into life with crustacean culinary masterpieces, from the from gourmet to the avant guarde
Vibrant dance, music and ceremonies mark the reuniting of the ancient Mayan Empire. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize join together to promote and celebrate goodwill between the Central American countries.
St George’s Caye Day marks the defeat of the Spanish navy in 1798 on St. George's Caye by a heroic crew of British settlers, buccaneers and liberated slaves and was the last attempt by the Spanish to attempt to dislodge the English.
Honoring the country's independence from Great Britain in 1981, Enjoy the flag-raising ceremonies, carnivals and music, then dance the night away and indulge in the local cuisine in celebration of Belize’s multicultural society.
Whether you want an action packed agenda in the water and the jungle, or simply spend some quality time in a hammock, Belize has something for all tastes and tempos.
