Festivals in French Guiana are celebrated with lots of cheerful traditions, cultural performances, music, drinking, and all-day feasts. Most events are based on religious observances and origins, but there are also many secular celebrations. The months of January and February come alive with Mardi Gras spirit and throughout the year, many other interesting holidays commemorate historic dates, including the abolition of slavery.
Deep in equatorial South America, French Guiana (also known as "Guyane") is a department of France bordering Brazil, Suriname, and the Atlantic. It's a land where old abuts new in striking incongruity. Dense rainforests shelter centuries-old indigenous villages, while rockets zoom overhead, launched from the country's lucrative Space Centre. The capital, Cayenne, is a melting pot of French, Asian, African, and Brazilian cultures.
French Guiana, as part of France, forms part of the European Union - the largest landmass for an area outside of Europe (since Greenland left the European Community in 1985), with one of the longest EU external boundaries. It is one of only three European Union territories outside Europe that is not an island (the others being the Spanish Autonomous Cities in Africa, Ceuta and Melilla).