Belize Celebrates Christmas with Culture

Christmas 2023 has come and gone, but not without its fair share of cultural festivities. The Belize Institute of Creative Arts hosted an array of events this week highlighting the various cultures and their traditional celebration practices across the country. Some of the events hosted included Las Posadas, the Deer Dance, and the Christmas Bram. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with a brief recap.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Las Posadas, which took place in Benque Viejo began its celebrations on December fifteenth and concluded on December twenty-fourth. During the event, members of the Catholic Church commune to commemorate Mary and Joseph’s journey through Bethlehem. Each of the nine nights, a young couple carries statues representing Mary and Joseph as they search for posadas or “lodging “.

The reenactment also features a group of women, known as the rezadoras, singing hymns asking for shelter and refusing the couple at each home. Journeying further south, we find the Mayan Deer Dance festival. In this festival, members of the Mayan community don traditional garb depicting animals such as monkeys, tigers, jaguars, and of course- deer.  Featured are also dancers dressed as Spaniards and British captains as the dance depicts the Spanish Conquest. The dance tells the tale of a European man who hunts and kills a deer in the forest but is later carried out by the other animals so that he may cause no further harm to them. Twenty five dancers participated in this three day-long event.

Finally, there was the Christmas Bram which took place in Gales Point Manatee. The event is a celebration of Creole culture as people gather to play drums, harmonicas and improvised instruments such as forks, graters and pint bottles. An array of food is served such as fruit cake, local wine and hams.

Britney Gordon for News Five.