Costumed men dance through the streets of Zoyatlán de Juárez, a remote community known for its historically high levels of violence, located in the mountain region of Mexico’s Guerrero state. During the three day event, men participate in parades, honor community leaders in various ceremonies, brand animals and compete in a traditional all day rooster killing event on horseback.

Young women eagerly await the commencement of the Quinceañero celebration honoring the 15th birthday of their friend, Edmundo. Usually focused on girls, the family of Eduardo was eager to celebrate their son.

Guests make a traditional toast to Alonso during a celebration he asked his mother have for his 15th birthday, similar to a young woman’s Quinceañera. Alonso’s mother recounts how growing up, he was fascinated with the elaborate event cakes his aunt prepared for many relatives and community members. Since she could not afford the cakes then, she wanted to throw him the party he had always dreamed of having at last for his fifteenth birthday.

Guests dance with the bride and groom at the beginning of a wedding reception dance in San Antonio de Lourdes. The remote village in the north of Mexico’s Guanajuato state is among many with grave water problems, including lack of water and extreme groundwater contamination. As a result, residents must buy expensive purified water for drinking, making throwing parties and festivals like this one unaffordable for most, in a region where people take pride in maintaining their strong traditions.

Despite inclement weather, residents and entertainers in the small town of Catalán del Refugio, Guanajuato, Mexico, rush to prepare for their annual “Day of the Migrant” celebration. Each summer, the event, financed largely by migrants from Catalán living in the United States, brings families of Catalán together to show appreciation for the contributions migrants make in the form of remittances, and to honor migrants whose lives have been lost.

Pilgrims on horseback take a water break as they travel to the Church of San Martin Caballero in Mexico's Guanajuato state, where they will have their horses blessed by priests on November 11. Each year they make the trek, by foot and by horseback, traveling for up to three days to reach the town of San Martin de Los Terreros, where the church is located. San Martin is the patron saint of horses and was buried on November 11, around 400 A.D.

Hilario Hernandez Lozano pedals his bike through fog in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico's Hidalgo state. Stunning pastoral landscapes are common in Hidalgo, a state less well know for tourism but steeped in tradition and history.

Religious pilgrims march on their way to the Basilica of San Juan de Los Lagos, one of Mexico's most important Catholic sites. Each January, believers depart from various states in central Mexico and walk for up to 14 days, in order to worship the Virgin of San Juan de Los Lagos, who is believed to have performed miracles since 1623. Up to 20,000 pilgrims participate, braving winter conditions and mountainous terrain, until they finally reach the Basilica, where a statue of the Virgin is permanently installed.

A dog joins family members as they honor their deceased on Day of the Dead in a quaint cemetery in Mexico's Michoacan state. On this day, throngs of people across Mexico visit cemeteries to clean the graves, build altars and make offerings to their loved ones whose souls they hope will visit them in return.

Family members spend the night in a quaint cemetery in Mexico's Michoacan state, to honor their deceased on Day of the Dead. On this day, throngs of people across Mexico visit cemeteries to clean the graves, build altars and make offerings to their loved ones whose souls they hope will visit them in return. Many stay by the grave sites in all-night vigils.

Families worship fervently in the small coffee growing village of Loma Linda in central Guatemala on December 12, the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has become one of the most import Catholic holidays in Latin America. The important religious holiday is widely celebrated in Mexico but also reaches into Central America. According to legend, the Virgin appeared before the indigenous peasant Juan Diego only ten years after the Spanish conquest.

Parents and children participate in an annual Catholic celebration at Señor de la Cuevita, located in Mexico City's populous Iztapalapa borough. Most Mexicans today identify themselves as being Roman Catholic, but the influence of other religious groups such as Protestant evangelicals and Mormons, as well as secularism, continues to spread, consistent with trends elsewhere in Latin America.

A mother observes while a stranger offers her child candy during a Day of the Dead parade in San Miguel de Allende, a popular tourist destination in central Mexico. Much due to migration and globalization, elements of Halloween have crept into some Day of the Dead Celebrations in Mexico.

A dance troupe takes a brief break to pray, inside the church of Los Ricos, a small community in Mexico’s Guanajuato state, during their annual celebration to honor San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers.

Holding onto a Santa Muerte (Saint Death) statue in an expression of devotion, worshippers listen and pray during a midnight Rosary service attended by over a thousand devotees one of the most famous Santa Muerte shrines, started in 2001 by Enriqueta Romero in Mexico City’s Tepito neighborhood.

An outing in an ultralight plane provides spectacular closeup views of the stunning beaches near Todos Santos in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Fishermen bring in their catch in Chocohuital, Chiapas, a tiny community that made world news in 2014 when one of the town's residents, Jose Salvador Alvarenga, appeared in the Marshall Islands, alive, after surviving 13 months at sea. He departed from Chocohuital in November 2012 with a friend for a one-day expedition to catch sharks. They were blown off-course by northerly winds, caught in a storm, and then lost use of their engines.

Victoria Trujillo prepares to dash into the surf while being observed by a fellow surfer's dog named Toby on the beaches of Todos Santos, Mexico. Todos Santos is a quiet Mexican town that distances itself from its famous neighbor Cabo San Lucas by boasting about having sophisticated galleries and surfing hideaways.

Girls take part in a parade around the city of Izamal marking Mexico's Day of the Revolution. City officials have been lobbying for nearly a decade to have Izamal inscribed as a Unesco World Heritaqe site. They hope the inscription will help bring investment for preservation of the town's many colonial structures and Mayan ruins and also foster important economic development.

Children observe with astonishment the mummy of a small child in the Mummy Museum of Guanajuato. Due to the city’s climate and unique burial style many people who died in the 19th century were unearthed in a mummified state over the past decades. A number of these mummies form part of a permanent exhibit in the museum next to the cemetery that attracts thousands of visitors per year.

Fans reach out to touch a "luchador" during his grand entrance to compete in a Friday night event held at Arena Mexico, Mexico City's largest Lucha Libre venue, which holds nearly 17,000 spectators.