Feria

As far as I know, almost every town in Latin America has a several-days-long annual celebration ("feria") near the date that the town was founded. The size of the feria corresponds with the size of the town - a large-ish Ecuadorian town that I went to had a 3-day bullfighting event during their feria, and a feria I went to in Costa Rica had several rides and activities that lasted through the night, concluding with a parade at sunrise. Like fairs in the States, ferias generally include food stands, rides, small games (like foosball), and lots of drinking. My town's feria was celebrated last week.

I didn't partake in or witness any drinking in my town (I would never drink in or near my town, and I happened to be out of town during the biggest/drunkest days of the feria) nor did I ride or even see any rides; since my town is pretty small (2,000-3,000 people), the feria was also small. I did, however, attend one staple feria event: the town parade.

Proof that the cutest kids in town are from my host family - the smiling boy is my host mom's nephew

The third kid from the left is my super-adorable little host brother

In addition to the students marching in their school uniforms (as is normally done in parades here), this parade also featured the middle school students (aka "my kids") marching in different costumes. This is a little difficult to explain, but here's how the costume thing worked: the students that appeared first were the month of January, and they dressed in costumes that had to do with a holiday that happens in January. I don't remember the holiday for January, but February for example was Valentine's Day, March was Carnaval (which apparently is celebrated here?), etc. 

March - Carnaval

April? - Don't know what holiday - notice the boy's fake beard

May? - Teacher appreciation day

Some month - wedding month?? I don't know

November- Saint's Day (celebrated with kites)

December - Day of the devil - Everywhere in Guatemala, fake devil
scarecrow-type figures are made and then burned. I somehow missed
this day this December!

Girls wearing the San Pedro traditional outfit ("traje") - something that no girls in my town would actually wear on a daily basis, but that some older women still do wear often or daily. In many other Guatemalan towns, all women, including girls,
wear the local "traje" every day. These tend to also be towns where a Mayan language is spoken, since the traje is a
symbol of Mayan heritage. My town used to speak a Mayan language (called Mam) several generations ago, but now nobody knows how to speak Mam.

A women actually wearing traje, not as a costume