Costa Maya Festival

Xaibe Dancers

The International Costa Maya Festival takes place in San Pedro, on Ambergris Caye. In this particular year (1998) Corozal was offering a sample of the festival to encourage appreciation of the Maya heritage in the Corozal District.

Dancers from the village of Xaibe (pronounced shy-bay), where many Mayan descendants live, demonstrate the zapateado, a Mestizo clog dance.

Miss Costa Maya contestants

Above, from left to right: Astrid Ramírez Apel, Guatemala; Charlotte Lynette Romero, Belize; Barbara Macossay Arteaga, Mexico; Dania Prince, Honduras; and Johanna Paulina Sasmay, El Salvador.

Contestants, enjoying the zapateado, represent the countries of the Mundo Maya, the world of the Maya. In the last picture below, Ian Noble, a teacher at Corozal Junior College, enjoys the company of the girls.

Xaibe dancers	Contestants view zapateado
Xaibe dancers do zapateado	Ian Noble with contestants

These pages were created by Judy Wilson.