Rabin Ajaw
contemporary Mayan festival in Guatemala
Rabin Ajaw also known as Rabin Ajau or Rab'in Ajaw, is an annual indigenous Mayan festival held in the Verapaces area of Guatemala, with the focus being in the city of Cobán. It is celebrated on the last Saturday of July. It is considered the largest and most important Mayan festival. In addition to fireworks, processions in traditional clothing and traditional dances are mainstays of the festival. In the Q'eqchi Mayan language, the name of the festival translates to "the king's daughter".
Selection of the Queen
The main event in Cobán is the selection of a Queen among indigenous contestants.
Participation requirements are:
young (no technical age limit, but 18-24 preferred) woman of Mayan descent
literate
no kinship with organizers, committee members, or judges
have not participated in previous years
not in a relationship. the winner is also required to remain single for a year after winning.
All participants of the contest give a preliminary speech on one of seven predetermined topics in both Spanish and their native Mayan. Knowledge of the Mayan language is important.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rabin Ajaw” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.