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7News was invited to the Wesley Upper School to take part in some of the festivities, and we saw what these students prepared in honor of Belize's diverse society.

Marlette Lacayo - VP, Wesley Upper School
"Today what we choose to do was divide our entire school into the different groups of people who live here in our country and so we have been very brave; we have the Maya, Mennonite, East Indian, Hindu, Jamaican, creole, Garifuna, the whole Kit and Caboodle, the Mestizo, everybody, even the Chinese Lion is here today and so we decided to let each class represent a culture and that is what we are doing today. We are looking specifically at areas like history and we have looked at the cultural beliefs and practices and those areas."

Daniel Ortiz
"How have the students received the efforts of this committee in terms of this cultural fair portrayal?"

Marlette Lacayo
"At first it was a little hesitant and then what we advised the teachers to do was to first show that you as a teacher you are willing to be open minded about the multi-cultural society that we have and they took it from there and it has been absolutely amazing. Can you imagine a child looking at you and asking questions about the Mayas and stuff like that and you see them in cultural wear - we don't have children who are Chinese here in our school - but you see the children in that cultural attire. You see them in all different types of cultural attire just embracing and accepting and being very cooperative."

And right across the street, Queen Square Primary School also held their cultural fair. Here's a few of their presentations:

Tanya Broaster, Teacher - Queen Square Primary
"We are portraying the Mayas. At our school today we have 8 different cultures depicting the theme "Diverse cultures celebrating unity." Out of the 8 different cultures we are the Mayas and you can ask some of my students some things about the Mayas. I think they have a good understanding about the Mayas."

Student #1
"The Maya dance is called a Deer Dance."

Student #2
"Some of the Maya foods are ducunu, tamales, beans and meat."

Daniel Ortiz
"What is the Maya clothing?"

Student #3
"The boys wear long sleeve shirt and long pants. The colors are white and black."

Shawn Jones, Teacher - Queen Square Primary
"The Std.1 classes are doing Nigerian. We are just focusing on the clothing, flag, map and a little bit of food. It took us at least a month before preparations because we had to practice with the kids in the evening especially some of the parts that were important and so far yes they do understand especially the dancers."

Daniel Ortiz
"Are they enjoying learning about a new culture?"

April Hill, Teacher - Queen Square Primary
"Yes they are especially that have seen that some of the things especially with the Garifuna as well the Creole - they see some of the similarities in the food. For instance; the Nigerian they love ripe plantains, we also use ripe plantains, Garifuna use the ripe plantains as well as the green plantain in making the hudut."

Alexander Flores, student - Queen Square
"The name of the dance is San bai Dance. San bai dance is a traditional fertility dance. One at a time a dancer comes into the ring, the girls dance sensuously and the boys dance athletically around the fire for 15-30 seconds then selects a new dancer to take his/her place. Everyone in the community joins in for this event to watch and most often to take turns dancing the San bai. The San bai usually takes place at weddings and birthdays."