The following dates are holidays in Belize, often celebrated with parades, carnivals and pageantry. Do you know what St. George’s Caye Day commemorates? A lot of Belizeans don’t know, either!
Below the calendar are descriptions of what those days are celebrating. Some, like New Year’s Day and Christmas Day are celebrated world-wide, but may be observed differently here. Check them out
01/01 – New Year’s Day
03/08 – National Heroes and Benefactors Day
04/02 – Good Friday
04/03 – Holy Saturday
04/05 – Easter Monday
05/01 – Labor Day
05/24 – Sovereign’s Day/Commonwealth Day
09/10 – St. George’s Caye Day
09/21 – Independence Day
10/11 – Pan American Day
11/19 – Garifuna Settlement Day
12/25 – Christmas Day
12/27 – Boxing Day
Oddly, many of the working class people in Belize aren’t really sure what most of their holidays are all about. If you ask them, they’ll shake their head and mutter something. The reasons for the holidays don’t seem to be as important as the fact they may get to take the day off from work and that stores may be closed. Here’s some background on Belize’s holidays and how they’re celebrated.
NOTE: It’s too easy for a country to lose its historical identity, so it is hoped that the Covid-19 pandemic and the shutdown of celebrations during 2020 and 2021 won’t cause any of these holidays to be diminished or discarded.
Click on the bolded links below to get more information about each holiday.
New Year’s Day In Belize, New Year’s Eve is the big celebration. Frequently a sheep gets barbecued on the last day of the old year as kids run around with sparklers, and fireworks are popping off all evening – particularly at midnight for which people have saved their biggest firecrackers, generally brought in from Guatemala (they’re illegal in Belize). New Year’s Day itself is spent taking it easy, going to the zoo or the beach, or to the river for swimming, or relaxing with neighbors and family.
National Heroes and Benefactors Day This day used to be called Baron Bliss Day, in commemoration of a rich benefactor, Baron Bliss, who died in 1926 leaving a fortune to the citizens of Belize. In 2008, its name was changed to National Heroes and Benefactors Day and now also celebrates other heros and benefactors as well.
The annual Ruta Maya Challenge is also traditionally held on this weekend – a four day canoe race from Hawksworth Bridge in San Ignacio to the sea – the longest of its kind in Central America.
Holy Week is a major celebration throughout Belize and schools close all over Belize from the Monday before the Easter weekend till the following Tuesday. Government offices and banks shut down at midday on Holy Thursday, for four and a half days. No alcohol is sold on Good Friday. ATMs can run out of money, so think ahead. The Benque celebration is well worth your attendance.
On Good Friday, Benque’s religious reenactment, the Passion Play, takes place at John Paul II Junior College, then the procession, with the Christ stand-in carrying the cross, passes through the streets, accompanied by townspeople, for nearly half a mile to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church where the reenacted crucifixion takes place at noon. During the day on Good Friday, householders and civic groups decorate Benque’s streets with colorful sawdust alfombras. Anyone can help.
At dusk, dozens of devoted penitents carry the massive anda slowly around Benque on their shoulders, obliterating the sawdust designs as they walk. Sunday, of course, is Easter.
For the “sports minded,” the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycle Race is held on Saturday, and most municipalities have fairs and dances to close off the long weekend (BTW, easter bunnies aren’t “a thing” in Belize).
Labor Day in Belize is also May Day. Most of the world celebrates Labor Day on May 1 (instead of in September, as is done in the U.S.). It is a bank holiday, and most businesses close as people celebrate by relaxing, having barbecues, and drinking. On May 1, 1962, Belize celebrated its first “Labor Day,” to celebrate the labor of all workers.
Sovereign’s Day/Commonwealth Day This holiday celebrates two aspects of Belize’s colonial history – the birthday of Queen Victoria, who ruled the British Empire for 63 years, and the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Empire.
St. George’s Caye Day On September 10, 1798, the Spanish attacked the British settlement of “Baymen” at St. George’s Caye with 32 ships and over 2,000 troops, and despite the overwhelming Spanish numbers, the Baymen won a decisive victory, that ended Spanish attempts at takeover. The celebration is a national holiday, but appears to be celebrated mainly on the coast.
Independence Day In 1964, Britain awarded the colony self-rule, and George Price became the colony’s first premier. In 1973, the colony of British Honduras was renamed “Belize” and the country was granted full independence in 1981. Since it’s only eleven days between St. George’s Caye Day and Independence Day, this is a time of “The September Celebrations,” with patriotic celebrations, parades, carnivals, and other observances.
Pan American Day. Formerly known as Columbus Day, Pan American Day is celebrated on October 12. In Belize, it celebrates the migrations of the Mestizos and indigenous cultural groups – the Mestizo, Yucatec Maya, Lebanese, Chinese, Indians, Mennonites, and Garifuna, into Belize to create the modern-day Belizean.
Garifuna Settlement Day This celebrates the arrival of the Garifuna people onto the shores of Belize on November 19th, 1802. The Garifuna trace their ancestry to a shipwreck off the West Indies in 1635, The West African survivors intermarried with indigenous Arawak people, and began to spread along the mainland coast of Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, reaching Belize (called British Honduras at the time) in 1802. Garifuna Settlement Day commemorates that date and is celebrated for the entire week throughout Belize but especially in Dangriga, where the first Garifuna people landed.
Christmas Day in Belize is celebrated mostly on December 24, with feasting, often on traditional foods such as tamales, which take hours to prepare on December 24. Then it’s midnight mass for the 80% of Belizeans who are Christians. Christmas Day itself is mainly a quiet day of contemplation, beginning with Mass and winding down with visiting neighbors, and eating up the remaining tamales. Firecrackers are sometimes a part of Christmas Eve celebrations “to welcome the Baby Jesus.”
Boxing Day This mysterious day, celebrated by countries with strong British roots, has SOMEthing to do with the rich giving things to the poor the day after Christmas. But where the name came from specifically is very much disputed. There is a good discussion of it in the Boxing Day link above, and you can make up your own mind which origin you prefer.