At Riques Mexican restaurant in Chicago, owner Enrique Cortes last year created a special menu on Dec. 12 for the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. And Mexican eateries around the country celebrate the holidays with traditional dishes like tamales, buñuelos and the Christmas cod dish called bacalao.

Since the holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving and runs through Día de Los Reyes (the Feast of the Three Kings) on Jan. 6, you have more than a month to celebrate. So El Restaurante Mexicano researched how the holidays unfold in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Guatemala to help you create promotions that tie into various Latin traditions. (Find more Christmas ideas for your restaurant in the El Restaurante Mexicano archives.)

Mexico. Christmas festivities begin on Dec. 16 with "Las Posadas," nine days of candlelight processions and parties. Children re-enact the holy family's quest for lodging in Bethlehem, followed by a celebration featuring the smashing of a piñata.

On "Noche Buena" (Christmas Eve), families attend the "Misa de Gallo" (Rooster's Mass), followed by a traditional Christmas dinner that may include tamales, atole, bacalao a la vizcaina (Biscayan cod), revoltijo de romeritos (wild greens in mole sauce) and roast ham, turkey or suckling pig, information from an online Food Network (www.foodtv.com) story about Mexican holidays says. (From the El Restaurante Mexicano archives, read about the Noche Buena menu at Chicago's ¡Salpicón! restaurant.)

According to www.mexconnect.com, the season continues through Día de los Reyes, a day that celebrates the Epiphany and often features the Rosca de Reyes — a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with candied fruits and baked with figurines of babies inside. Anyone who gets a piece of bread with a figurine must host another party before Candlemas on Feb. 2, the day Mexico's holiday season ends.

Argentina. During December, Argentines drink iced beverages and stay in air-conditioned spaces to help keep cool. In some homes evergreen trees are decorated with cotton to simulate the snow found on the trees in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere.

Christmas dinner in Argentina usually includes a suckling pig or a roast peacock decorated with some of its own plumage. Niños envueletas is another favorite dish. It is made of steak cut in pieces three inches square, stuffed with minced meat mixed with onions, hard-boiled eggs, and spices. The meat is shaped in rolls, browned, and baked or simmered until tender.

On the eve of Jan. 6, children in Argentina place their shoes beneath the Christmas tree or beside their beds. They leave hay and water outside so the horses of the Magi who bring them their gifts will have a meal as they journey toward the Christ Child in Bethlehem.

Brazil. The people of northern Brazil enjoy a version of the folk play Los Pastores or "The Shepherds." In the Brazilian version, there are shepherdesses rather than shepherds and a gypsy who attempts to kidnap the Christ Child.

Papai Noel (Father Noel) is the gift-bringer in Brazil. According to legend, he lives in Greenland. This Santa-type character was imported from North America in the 1950s. When Papai Noel arrives in Brazil, he usually wears silk clothing due to the summer heat.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century many immigrants came from Europe and other parts of the world, bringing their traditions and adapting them to Brazilian conditions. So, the food they eat during Christmas came from Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and other countries. A huge Christmas dinner, unusual in the hot summer, includes turkey, ham, colored rice, and fresh vegetable and fruit dishes.

Chile. Chile's gift-bringer is called Viejo Pascuero, or Old Man Christmas. In some areas, he strongly resembles Santa Claus in a red and white outfit and comes in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. But he climbs in windows since chimneys aren't large in this warm climate. In other areas, Viejo Pascuero is seen as a local rancher and is often in the company of a llama.

The Christmas Eve meal often includes azuela de ave, a chicken soup filled with potatoes, onions and corn on the cob; and Pan de Pasqua, a Christmas bread filled with candied fruit.

The meal on Christmas Day usually includes turkey, seafood, and freshly grown vegetables and salads (it's summer in December) along with Chilean wine for which the country is famous.

Guatemala. For nine evenings before Christmas, the beat of drums and the explosion of fireworks are heard as posada ("inn") processions move through the streets. The celebration of Midnight Mass and a large supper follow the last posada on Christmas Eve.

Christmas trees first became popular in Guatemala following German immigration to the Alta Verapaz region of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the arrival of Americans working for the local banana industry during the early 20th century. Children find gifts left by the Christ Child under the tree on Christmas morning (possibly a custom based on the German Christkindl tradition). Adults exchange gifts New Year's Day.

Tamales made with pork or chicken are the most popular Christmas dish in Guatemala (one Guatemalan website on the Internet claims, in fact, that "a Christmas without tamales is not Christmas"). Guatemalans also enjoy different punch drinks with ingredients such as dried fruit, raisins, prunes, dates, cinnamon, milk, and/or rum.