It’s a look, isn’t it? This is the Xtabay (portrayed by actress Shelley Glionna).
A Belizean movie was available on YouTube, and I was overjoyed. Belize is a Central American and Caribbean nation I know little about, and in this blog project I really wanted horror movies from countries with little representation in international cinema.
I was even more excited to find that it was titled 2012: Curse of the Xtabay. Mesoamerican anthropology is a passion of mine. Imagine the things this could have brought together? 2012, an auspicious and apocalyptic year in the ancient, classic Maya calendar (and source of anxiety for many people during the exact year). Belize, with its amazing ethnic diversity and large populations of Mayan-speaking people. The Xtabay, a name only familiar to me because of Yma Sumac, the vocal powerhouse diva whose album, Voice of the Xtabay, is my favorite thing to play when I want some peace and quiet.
La Xtabay is a Yucatec Mayan myth about the Xtabay. The Xtabay is a female demon originating from a Mayan legend who has ill intentions towards men.[1] She dwells in the forest to lure men to their deaths and, according to those that have escaped her, she possesses incomparable beauty and evil.[2] She has beautiful black shiny hair that falls down to her ankles.[3] The Xtabay resides in the Yucatán Peninsula.[3]
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