Palapa

A palapa is an open-sided structure roofed with thatch of dried palm leaves. In Mexico the word covers both simple beach shelters and the palm-thatched roofs of rural houses, restaurants and resort buildings. Similar structures in Nicaragua are called ranchos.

Name and origin

The word is Spanish. One account traces it to Tagalog, where it originally meant the stalk of a palm leaf, and links the palapa to the Philippine bahay kubo (nipa hut), building methods that may have reached New Spain with the Manila galleons alongside the coconut palm. Dictionaries such as the American Heritage Dictionary instead describe the word as American Spanish. Related palm-roofed houses include the Taíno bohío of the Greater Antilles and the chickee of the Seminole in Florida.

Use

Palapas are valued in hot climates because the thick, ventilated palm roof gives deep shade while letting hot air escape. They are very common on Mexican beaches and in Central America. In Mexico palm-leaf thatch remains a locally available, low-cost roof for rural houses, especially in the south and on the coasts, and is widely used on tourist buildings. In Yucatán, the oval Maya house (xa'anil naj) has a steep thatched roof over a rounded plan, a shape associated with withstanding hurricane winds.

Census

Mexico's 2020 census no longer reports palm roofs separately: palm or straw roofs are grouped with cardboard sheet, earth roofs and other materials in an "other" category that together covered 1.8% of occupied dwellings.

Construction and maintenance

As with other palm thatch, the roof is a frame of poles or timber covered with layers of dried leaves, which decay and must be renewed over time.

Sources and gaps

Detailed figures on lifespan and pitch were not found in published sources (see palm-thatch and thatching-process).