San Jose Succotz Festival, March 26 - 28 2011
1. Miss Succotz, Betty Chaman
2. Costumed Dancers Maria Penados (left) and Christie Panti (right), don't know the other dancers, sorry.
3. Brother & Sister
4. Young lady with the Crown
The village's annual fiesta to honour their patron saint, St. Joseph, was always held in March, but recently shifted toward April in order to avoid falling during Lent. The festival is an occasion for much merrymaking and fun events like dancing round a may pole and the hog head dance. The village also picks a queen at this time to serve for a year as an ambassador for the village.
There is normally a ferris wheel and a number of mechanical devices to give the event a fairground feel. It lasts for three days. Of course, as enjoying a lively festival is thirsty work and burns up the calories, delicious traditional "bollos" or "tamales" are on sale everywhere, together with a wonderful variety of local brews.
And if you need to cool down after all this, the Mopan River flows serenely by the village, ready to welcome swimmers or cool-down dippers!
Photographs by Charlie Trew
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