Ambergris Caye – made internationally famous as “La Isla Bonita” by Madonna and also known as “Temptation Island”, the base for the contestants in the TV show – is one of the main attractions for visitors to this beautiful country. It’s Belize’s largest island and the former fishing village of San Pedro, just half a mile from the Barrier Reef, is the only town on the caye.

Music and dance are central to any party in Belize, and Belizeans don’t just watch a band play — everyone, from toddlers to grandparents, enthusiastically joins in the “jump-up.” In September two major national holidays (National Day/St. George’s Caye Day on the 10th and Independence Day on the 21st) provide the backdrop to the biggest participatory musical event in the country — Carnival! Known collectively as the September Celebrations, preparations begin months before, with parade committees planning routes, carnival groups designing elaborate costumes and trying out their dance steps, and pretty schoolgirls vying to become one of the dozens of queens and princesses. Officially the “slow season” for tourism, it’s actually a great time to visit Belize.

With the arrival of October, the cofradías of Panajachel prepare again to play their traditional role in the town’s annual celebration of its patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi. In the course of solemn processions and ceremonies, which have been carried out for centuries, these groups will contribute colorful pageantry to an unfolding of events that characterize the syncretic nature of Christianity unique to Mayan culture. While it will not be obvious on the surface of their activities, these cofradías, once powerful social institutions, have arrived at the brink of extinction. The sad reality of their possible demise raises questions of what can or should be done to preserve this colorful vestige of an endangered culture.

Enormous “stained glass”-tissue paper kites (barriletes) are bound to bamboo frames, the height and width of at least two or three people. In Sumpango, they await the afternoon wind on the edge of a hill in the cemetery, tethered by thick jute rope. When the wind comes, these huge works of art soar up to the heavens and eventually become mere dots in the sky.

It was October 11, just a week after the horror of Hurricane Stan, and there they were in the field alongside the road to Escuintla—the first poinsettias of the season. They waved their bright red heads in the breeze as if to cheer their own survival and signal assurance that Christmas is coming as always.

Devils prowl the streets of Ciudad Vieja every December in search of corrupted souls to take down into the fiery pits of Hell, but rather than locking themselves inside their homes, town residents come out to watch and cheer these red-clad fiends. They are the stars of the Baile de los 24 Diablos (Dance of the 24 Devils), a theatrical street dance that dates back more than 400 years and is unique to Ciudad Vieja, that lesser-known neighbor of La Antigua Guatemala which in its own right boasts a rich cultural legacy.

All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on helpless mortals. But on Wednesday, December 7, at 6 p.m. sharp, the Devil gets his comeuppance, as he is tossed out of the house along with the trash and set ablaze in the Quema del Diablo (Burning of the Devil), a tradition in many Guatemalan towns that literally sparks the beginning of the Christmas Season.

The Christmas celebration in the village of Izalco is not a short affair. It starts just after the celebrations of La Imaculada Concepción, November 25 to December 10, and does not end until February 2 at the festivities of the Virgen de Candelaria. This means almost two months of activities and joyous atmosphere, with Festejos Dicembrinos of the Christmas holiday.

In El Salvador, as anywhere else in the world, people have used materials available in the environment to create their art. Since the beginning of time, mud, wicker, clay, branches and other materials have been used in traditional handicrafts—anything goes when it comes to being creative.

Thursday of Ascension always comes 40 days after Easter and this year conveniently falls on May 5, just two days after the Day of the Cross, May 3. That day also honors stonemasons, who mark the day on construction sites all over the country by posting crosses decorated with strips of colored tissue paper. Antigüeños remember marimba music coming from the Hill of the Cross, which could be heard all over town. But that was snuffed out when the hill became an army encampment during the armed conflict.