Category: Culture

October has officially begun, ushering in what many fondly call the spooky season. While most Belizeans might be gearing up for Halloween with costumes and trick-or-treating, Maya traditions offer a different perspective as October ends and November begins. Depending on where you are in the country, you might hear about or even join in a Dia De Los Muertos or Los Finados celebration. These cultural events are dedicated to honoring the departed through communion, feasts, and prayers. However, as these age-old traditions intersect with the modern, commercialized Halloween festivities, there’s a risk of losing a generation to contemporary trends. News Five’s Paul Lopez delves deeper into this in this week’s installment of Kolcha Tuesday.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Eighty-five-year-old Angelita Magana, a devout Catholic, faithfully attends mass every week at the San Joaquin Roman Catholic Church. A proud woman of Mestizo descent, she is deeply passionate about preserving her cultural heritage. As the world around her increasingly adopts a westernized version of Halloween, Magana remains steadfast in her commitment to the traditional celebrations of Dia De Los Muertos, or Los Finados. Her dedication to honoring her ancestors through these time-honored rituals is a testament to her enduring spirit and cultural pride.

 

Angelita Magana, Cultural Activist

“Traditionally we know it as Hanah Pishan, meaning “food for the dead”. The Maya believed a lot or respected dead people because they believe that when you die you continue to live somewhere else. It is a tradition we have that is celebration started on the first of October when our tradition that night, the thirty-first, souls are released from heaven, and they are sent to visit their living family.”

 

And, as the dead return to earth to visit their families, their loved ones prepare for that encounter with a feast, hence the phrase, “food for the dead”. This is a ritual of gratitude.

 

Angelita Magana

“The mayas they believed a lot in the dead. They believed in the souls. So it comes from them that they had to be grateful for the parents or whoever died in their family. They had to feed them once a year, give them some food they like, or drinks they like, or you usually had a rosary said in your home or an ascendado. That means you just set the food on the table, but it has to be very hot and you actually see the smoke from the food. The belief was that while that is going up, they are eating it. So, in the evening when the food is cooled already there is a little space that the food went down and we say, see the souls came and they received that food.”

 

For Magana and her community, the annual tradition begins on October thirty-first, when it is believed that the souls are released back to earth. November first is dedicated to feeding the souls of children who have passed on, while November 2nd is reserved for honoring adults. This heartfelt practice is a poignant reminder of the community’s deep respect and love for their ancestors, blending reverence with celebration.

 

Angelita Magana

“We are trying to keep it up, because gradually the new generation is losing that spirituality that we have a Maya Mestizos, Belizean Maya Mestizos.”

 

According to Magana, children and young adults are increasingly replacing these cultural practices with a commercialized version of Halloween centered around costumes, jack-o-lanterns, candies, and trick-or-treating. Here at the Banquitas House of Culture in Orange Walk Town, Cindey Rivero and her team have been working tirelessly to bring awareness to a younger generation through the annual Dia De Los Finados celebration.

 

Cindey Rivero, Community Arts Coordinator, Banquitas HOC

“It is our job and we take that opportunity seriously to tell them ok, the amount of candle you placed on the alter signifies this. The amount of treat represents something. So we try to educate them as best as possible, utilizing having elders within the community that has knowledge to share with them. So, for us it is important for them to know why we do certain things, and not just say oh we are offering food for the dead and they don’t come and eat it.”

Rivero concedes that in the age of technology her work is becoming increasingly challenging.

 

Cindey Rivero

“We try to educate our children that Halloween is not a part of the Belizean culture or Belizean tradition. So, it is very difficult for them to understand, because with the increase in technology and vast information of the American population and what they do and influences within our country they don’t really understand and cannot see the separation between one particular celebration which is the Halloween and the other celebration, which is Dia De Los Muertos, which is our celebration.”

 

Cindey Rivero and Angelita Magana have learned that these family spirits are not to be feared, but celebrated. They cherish the presence of their ancestors, viewing it as a time of joy and reverence. This heartfelt belief is one they hope will endure for generations, even amidst challenges and changing times.

 

Angelita Magana

“I remember one night I was sitting on my verandah out there and my husband had gone to help his brother in the shop and I was alone and rocking. All of a sudden, I felt those arms around me from the back and I felt that smell and I said ah dad. I opened my eyes and actually felt the hands moving away. I was not afraid. I was not afraid. I just said, my dad came to visit me. That is it, because we were taught they wont hurt you.”

 

Paul Lopez

“That must have been a very special moment for you.”

 

Angelita Magana

“Very, I cried.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez

Chon Saan Palace is celebrating fifty years of service to Belize. The restaurant was founded in 1974 by Armando Chang, the patriarch of the Chang family who migrated to Belize from China in 1961. He worked at Canton Restaurant for a few years before venturing into building the restaurant and brand that is known across the country. So, how has Chon Saan Palace been able to survive this long? Its current owner, Lee Mark Chang says the Belizean culture has shaped the restaurant over the years into what it is today. News Five’s Paul Lopez joined Lee Mark Chang for lunch inside the restaurant. Here is what he found out in today’s installment of Kolcha Tuesday.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

1974 may seem like a long time ago in Belize’s history. It is the first year that the country held general elections after being renamed from British Honduras the year before. It is also the year that one Chinese family opened the doors to a restaurant that is now known across the country. On July fourteenth, Chon Saan Palace celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

 

Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace

“Hard work and determination. Make sure your kitchen serves only the freshest of food, cook to order and make sure your customers are satisfied.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Mark Chang, the owner of Chon Saan Palace, took over from his father, Armando Chang, who established their first location on Freetown Road. Prior to that, Armando Chang was employed at Canton Restaurant on New Road where he cooked and bussed tables. In 1991, the family established a new Chon Saan Palace location on Kelly Street. Lee Mark Chang has been at the helm of the business for the last three decades.

 

 

 

 

Lee Mark Chang

“I don’t think my parents ever envision us lasting sixty years. It is a milestone, and they are very happy that I have been able to continue their work. Starting has always been hard. It is always hard for a business and as my father explained previously, getting beers, meat, vegetables, was very hard because of scarcity back in the days.”

 

 

 

 

Today, we sat down with the former President of the Senate for lunch inside his restaurant. The table was set with eight different dishes that the restaurant serves. Chon Saan Palace’s Asian inspired menu is a fusion of the Chang family’s Chinese heritage, and the flavors Belizeans know and love. In essence, Belize’s culinary culture has shaped Chon Saan into the successful restaurant it is today.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Mark Chang

“I believe it is the Belizean culture that has shaped Chon Saan, because we have adapted their pallet and taste the veggies, what is available in Belize. I would say, ninety-five, maybe ninety-seven percent of our meats and vegetables are locally produced. A good example is the chow mein, you don’t find chow mein anywhere in this world like the Belizean chow mein. For example, the cabbage, carrots and onion in it, it is not common, as far as I know. In the states, the chow mein is made up of bak choy and whatever meats you order. As far I can recall there is no noodles involved in chow mein in the states, as far as I know. Maybe some do have it. We also generate our own style of cooking, like for example the salt and pepper whole fish where we would fillet the entire fish, debone it and fry the entire fish and present it also.”

 

The spread, specially curated for the media, provided a culinary experience that took the pallet through five decades of cooking perfection.

 

Lee Mark Chang

“I think we have the salt and pepper fish, we have the Singapore shrimp. I made a pan-fried tenderloin steak, sweet and sour chicken Chinese style, sweet and sour, jumbo shrimp, mixed vegetables with garlic. I think there is an eight-course meal prepared for you guys today.”

 

 

 

 

Undoubtedly, as Chang admits, the dish that is most popular among his customers is the restaurant’s fried chicken. It is also one of the most affordable items on the menu. The flavor of Chon Saan’s fried chicken distinguishes itself from the rest. Believe it or not, habanero pepper is one of its main ingredients.  A recent spike in the cost of habanero has pushed the restaurant to slightly adjust its prices on certain dishes to maintain standards. Successfully navigating scarcity and inflation has kept this family in business for five decades.

 

 

 

Lee Mark Chang

“We use a lot of habaneros, a lot. We marinade a lot of our fried chicken in habanero. So we have to blend up a lot. So when habanero was three to five dollars a pound and then it went up to five, ten fifteen, and even twenty-five dollars a pound, that is hard. So we have had to raise our price by fifty cents recently so to at least be able to continue with the usage of the same ingredients, same amount, for the fried chicken.”

 

 

 

From one generation to the next, Lee Mark Chang and his son have made a five-year apprentice agreement. When those five years are over, a decision will be taken to pass the business on to a new generation. The promise is to maintain the standard of the brand into the next five decades, in spite of who is at the helm.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Mark Chang

“We have people who come in for birthdays, anniversary, whatever celebration they are doing. A part from that we have people come in on a daily basis. That is what we work on, we work on the entire package. We don’t only target one individual customer or group of customer. It is an everyday restaurant. You can get the cheapest of food or the most expensive food. It all depends on what you want to eat or what is your budget for the day.”

 

 

 

Paul Lopez

“Are there certain values your family holds that also emanates through the way you do business?”

 

Lee Mark Chang

“Work nuh kill, hard work and determination. That has been beat into my head from a very young age, work nuh kill.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

The legend of X’tabai is a tale of jealousy and vengefulness. The story of two women, one promiscuous, but kind and the other pure, but cruel, has been told across the Yucatan Peninsula for decades. It is said that the malicious spirit lures men to their demise with her beauty as she roams the earth in her afterlife. In tonight’s episode of Kolcha Tuesday, News Five’s Britney Gordon dives deeper into the legend that has impacted the lives of many who grew up in rural Belize, inspired authors and even earned itself a movie. Here is that report.

 

Aurelio Sho, Encountered X’tabai

“Upon approaching, we felt the cold seed and this huge no-good feeling at all, they’re like your normal self is fighting this different encounter, and then we realized that there was no one, no we didn’t see no one. And then we realized that immediately on the dock, that we saw some footprints, but instead of that of a human, we saw something like a turkey and something else different, like two different. Like you could see the footprints walking all the way to the end of the dock and it was really fresh and you could see like the turkey or the chicken, and then when we saw that we look at each other and we just run all the way home.”

 

 

Britney Gordon, reporting

If you were to see a beautiful woman with long black hair, beckoning you over on the side of the road, would you think twice about approaching her? What if the woman was cloaked in white and had one foot of a turkey and the other of a goat? Then the thought may cross your mind that you are looking at the spirit of X’tabai, the femme fatale, luring you to your death. David Ruiz, a Belizean storyteller, details the legend.

 

 

 

David Ruiz, Belizean Storyteller

“It comes from that pre-Hispanic Mayan culture which represents A princess, a man princess in ancient Yucatan, who, who is hexed by another lady because of jealousy, no? She was a, she was being courted by one of the noblemen and the other lady, gets jealous and hexes Princess Sulay, X’tabai. And from there she’s doomed to roam the planet’s eternity in search of a suitor, of a male suitor and that’s where it comes to us as the lady that in the temptress that attracts men.”

 

 

 

 

The vindictive spirit is known for targeting men because even though she lived as Utz-colel, a pure woman, she died with an evil heart. Unlike her counterpart Xkeban who, although promiscuous and shunned by society, embodied characteristics of good and kindness. Aurelio Sho says that he encountered X’tabai twice in his youth. He detailed the second encounter to us where he stumbled upon a woman brushing her long black hair while he was crossing the Blue Creek Bridge at four thirty in the morning.

 

 

 

 

Aurelio Sho

“I stopped to watch and then, but when you stop for that few seconds of trying to make that connection, that is where it lets out that. I don’t know. I don’t want to call it evil spirit or whatever, but.”

 

Britney Gordon

“That negative energy?”

 

Aurelio Sho

“The energy was so overwhelming, and it started to compete with yours. And then that’s how, when they start to bring you down, the cold seed.  I feel like all my hair stand up, and it’s quite an encounter. Honestly you get really afraid, and immediately then and there, I realized that was the X’tabai and in no time, it’s like somebody spray a perfume where just a very strong scent of a natural something, like a perfume, that’s what it let out. And then like in no time, that there is nothing in the river, but then you know that it’s the X’tabai.”

 

According to legend, those who are lured by X’tabai don’t typically live to tell the tale, as she turns herself into a snake and devours her captive. Sho says he was fortunate both times because he was taught how to recognize malicious spirits.

 

Aurelio Sho

“Growing up you learn a lot of things from your grandparents, from your parents and especially learn to survive and traditional knowledge. So you would have, I would know what to do and what to, you say your lee prayer if find yourself being trapped or to be overcome by any of these things, and I think this is the uniqueness of our culture. We adapt and we learn to live in harmony with nature.”

 

 

 

X’tabai is so solidified in Belizean culture that a movie depicting the character was produced in 2012 by the late Matthiew Klinck through the production company Make-Belize Films. It starred nearly an all-Belizean cast and was filmed within the country. Klinck’s former business partner, Horacio Guerrero. told us about the role of X’tabai in the film.

 

 

 

 

Horacio Guerrero, Director, Make-Belize Films

“The plot of the story is we have these students that escaped their village in San Antonio because a curse has been placed on the village and the people are in fever, some are dying. And then the village is locked down by the government because they’re afraid for it to spread. And then these group of adventurous students escape into the jungle to see if they can find the cure or how to break that curse from the X’tabai. And of course, from there, everything escalates and they go into the jungle and they start, you know, meeting with the demon and having, you know, all these encounters. Then, you know, you see if they, they find the, Break the curse of the X’tabai.”

 

 

 

Guerrero explained that Klinck’s vision for the movie was to create something that would capture the attention of and resonate with Belizean audiences.

 

Horacio Guerrero

“He needed something where the audience would be captivated and something that was, that all Belizeans would know about. So upon his arrival here and talking to people, he saw that folklore was something that Belizeans are very much into. And everybody, you know, across the board, doesn’t matter, Mestizo, Creole, Garifuna, everybody kind of knows about folklore. And the X’tabai just seemed to be that creature, that, that monster that would captivate.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.

The turmeric root has been touted as a medicinal plant that boosts the immune system and wards off minor infections, liver ailments, and healing wounds. But this wonder plant from the ginger family is also ground into a powder and bottled as a tasty seasoning in the East Indian culture. In today’s edition of Belize on Reel, News Five’s Marion Ali and George Tillett travelled to Toledo where turmeric is harvested and used as medicine and seasoning. Here’s that report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

Derrick Guy makes a living off the turmeric root. He uses a portion of his farmland at Yemeri Grove to plant and harvest a few thousand pounds each year. Some of it he sells to a factory several miles away, and the rest he grinds into what is called yellow ginger. This is a powder that can be added to almost any pot – a meal that is then called takari.

 

Derrick Guy, Turmeric Farmer, Toledo

“We usually harvest it in dry weather and when we harvest it, we usually put back the seed back under the earth. But we usually harvest it on full moon that ih last long and ih nuh ketch weevil when you process it, noh. We wash it like two, three times, we boil it, we put it out in the sun let it dry. No rain enough to catch it because it can spoil. You got to crack it first with the mill and from there you grind it, then sieve it, and grind it again till it comes to come to lone powder.”

 

 

 

Guy says there are other methods of harvesting and processing turmeric, but the end product doesn’t last long.

 

Sherene Garay-Usher owns and manages Garay’s Restaurant in Punta Gorda. Her establishment caters largely to customers who want takari food, which is any meal that is cooked with yellow ginger. She agrees that the way turmeric is processed makes all the difference. Even though she processes the root for her own uses, when she needs to buy, she says she prefers Guy’s method of processing over the others.

 

 

 

 

Sherene Garay-Usher, Owner and Manager, Garay’s Restaurant

“If yoh goh buy it da the stores the yellow ginger taste different. Some of them don’t even have color. Soh ih yellow in the bottle, but when you cook it, the stuff doesn’t come out yellow.”

 

Marion Ali

“Why is that?”

 

Sherene Garay-Usher

“Because they’re not dry, good. The processing is different.”

 

Marion Ali

“And now, you have a famous kitchen in PG, and everybody knows this kitchen or know about your cooking. And that taste of that yellow ginger. It’s traditional to you, it’s unique to you, and you’re saying it’s because of the way it’s processed?”

 

Sherene Garay-Usher

“Yes, it’s because of the way it’s processed, and for me, when I buy yellow ginger, most of the time I try to buy from Mr. Derrick because they do it almost the way how we grow up di do it, the traditional way.”

 

Garay-Usher attests that this yellow ginger powder can be used in almost any pot.

 

Sherene Garay-Usher

“The split peas yoh just sprinkle a little bit in it when it start boil up and thing. But, when I cook the cohune cabbage, I fry up my yellow ginger before I put in the cohune. The pork, I have to fry the yellow ginger a little bit and that is because the yellow ginger nuh processed the way how I would do it for myself.”

 

 

 

 

Marion Ali

“I see, yes. If you had done it for yourself, how would you have done it?”

 

Sherene Garay-Usher

“If I had done it for myself, I would have made my paste and have it ready for when I ready to cook. I could just season the meat with it.”

 

 

Garay’s Kitchen is so popular for its unique takari dishes that Garay-Usher says she gets orders not only from the Toledo District but sometimes from as far away as Belize City, Belmopan and Corozal.

 

Sherene Garay-Usher

“Most people da PG basically follow the East Indian or the Creole when it comes to the food. On a daily basis most people look forward to eating something takari. People would da just call or just message and say, please send this or please send that, and they just pay online and then I just put it on the plane. Most of it da the Takari or if I cook cohune cabbage, like today I had an order to send by the plane.”

 

 

 

 

While turmeric is ground into yellow ginger and takari dishes are popular East Indian cuisines, it is also used for medicinal purposes. Guy said he uses it as a booster.

 

Derrick Guy

“They have it in capsule too for medicine and when I go on YouTube, they say it has 54 different benefits.”

 

Marion Ali

“Do you use it as medicine?”

 

Derrick Guy

“Of course but I cook with it a lot and I also boil it and drink it for tea.”

 

 

 

Marion Ali

“What does it do?”

 

Derrick Guy

“They say it helps the immune system, noh. It fights against different sickness and things. Ih good for joint pain too also.”

 

The internet suggests that turmeric has several health benefits for which the product can be used as well. Marion Ali for News Five.