Holidays in Honduras

As in other Latin American countries, Christmas (December 25) and Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday in late March or early April are the main religious holidays. A Christmastime tradition is the posada , a celebration held each night beginning on December 16.
Between December 25 and January 6, Garifuna men celebrate Yancunú with dancing, singing, and the wearing of masks to bring prosperity in the new year. On January 15 of each year, pilgrims from Honduras and other Central American countries attend a celebration in Esquipulas, Guatemala, home of a dark-skinned wooden sculpture of Jesus. The feast day of the Virgin of Suyapa, Honduras's patron saint, is on February 2. In the basilica in Suyapa there is a tiny wooden image of her that is believed to have miraculous powers.
Of the secular, or nonreligious, holidays, the most important are Independence Day on September 15, and the birthday of national leader Francisco Morazán on October 3. He was the last president of the United Provinces of Central America, a federation that only lasted from 1823 to 1842.