AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Specials & Events Garifuna Settlement Day 2012

Happy Garifuna Settlement Day 2012!

We all join the entire country of Belize today to take some time out to celebrate the arrival of the Garifuna people, or Garinagu, to the shores of Belize.

Belize would not be the Belize that we know and love if it wasn't for the many contributions of the Garifuna, and their proud history of one of the most interesting and enduring sagas humanity has known, beginning with a fateful shipwreck off St Vincent's Island in the Caribbean in the 1600s, when surviving African slaves made it to shore and mixed with the local Arawak, or Carib, population.

When England won control of St Vincent after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, it began trying to subdue the islanders with what became known as the Carib Wars. After the death of their leader, Joseph Chatoyer, the Caribs surrendered to the British in 1796, who then separated the more ethnically African people they called Black Caribs from the Amerindian or Red Caribs and, in 1797 deported them to the island of Roatán off the coast of Honduras.

Less than half of the five thousand exiles are said to have survived, making their way to the mainland and spreading up and down the coast, building villages and steadfastly preserving their language and culture. Garifuna women were said to have hidden cassava in their clothing during the voyage from St Vincent's, and the rootstock of those plants ensured the survival of the Garinagu and supply gardens today.

Settlement Day commemorates the arrival of Garifuna in Belize in 1802, where they established villages such as Barranco, Seine Bight, Dangriga, Hopkins, Punta Gorda and other communities and went on to help define Belize society, making important contributions to education, government, arts and music.

The Garifuna now make up over 6% of the population of Belize, and there is a large Belize Garifuna diaspora in the US in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

On the morning of the 19th the Garifuna flag, yellow, white and black to represent the sun, peace and the colour of the Garinagu people, is raised all over Belize and flies proudly as the re-enactments of the arrival of the people in dugout canoes take place. For Belizeans and visitors alike this is a great opportunity to enjoy Garifuna culture and sample their unique food and lively music.

In Garifuna villages this week there will be an abundance of traditional Garifuna foods such as serre, fish boiled in coconut milk and usually served with hudut, or mashed plantain; a delicious Garifuna staple. The essential cassava is also a foundation of Garifuna cuisine and made into the very traditional cassava bread and various puddings and drinks, including a potent wine. Cassava bread used to be is served with every meal and the ancient and time-consuming process can take several days.

Garifuna music is now enjoyed around the world and is essential to any comprehensive world music collection. Andy Palacio, who suddenly and very sadly passed away in 2008 was an amazing composer and performer of Punta Rock and other styles, and is widely considered, along with artist and musician Pen Cayetano, to be Belize's greatest cultural ambassador as well as a Garifuna role models. Paul Nabor, or Nobby to friends and fans is over 80 years old and still playing Paranda, a unique, soulful style incorporating guitar and sometimes called Garifuna blues, while Aurelio Martinez is a young musician extending the form to audiences in Carnegie Hall and venues around the world. These and other Garifuna musicians can be found on YouTube and their music is available through Belize's main record label, Stonetree Records.

Here at Chaa Creek we want to acknowledge the many important contributions the Garifuna have made to Belize and to wish our Garinagu friends and extended family all the best on this special day and well into the future as we all join together in saying: Wawansera Memeba Lau Lubafu Bungiu Hama Ahari! . (We Keep Going Forward with The Power of God and the Ancestors).

Source

Carlene Martinez wins Miss Garifuna Belize

Carlene impressed the judges with her erudition in the Garifuna language and her knowledge of Garinagu history and culture to capture the title, also winning as her prize a laptop computer, a beach cruiser bicycle and a bouquet of flowers.

Outgoing Garifuna Settlement Day Queen Miss Elisa Magdaleno sashed and crowned Carlene with her tiara, after the judges' decision was announced.

Miss Seine Bight, Avery Thomas entertained the audience with her soliloquy and scored enough points with the judges to win second place, taking home as her prize a color television set and a home theatre set.

Miss Dangriga, Valerie Castillo, also impressed the judges sufficiently to win third prize, a Hewlett Packard Net book computer.

Three other contestants vied for the title: Miss Belize City Gwendolyn Roches, Miss Georgetown Dickeve Ramirez and Miss Peini of Punta Gorda, Marian Marin.

Carlene Martinez will be crowned at the annual Garifuna Settlement Day ceremonies at BTL Park after a re-enactment of the landing at the Court House Wharf and subsequent procession to the St Martin DePorres Roman Catholic Church for a concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving.

The theme for this year's celebrations is "Wawansera memeba lau lubafu bungiu hama ahari" (We keep going forward with the power of God and our ancestors).

The pageant began with Roslyn Enriquez singing the National Anthem in Garifuna, and the President of the Belize City Chapter of the National Garifuna Council, Matthew Martinez leading the congregation in a welcome prayer.

Mistress of Ceremonies Gwen Nuñez introduced the candidates, and the outgoing queen, Elisa Magdaleno bid her audience farewell after which the candidates performed the Gunjai and Chumba dances

Punta Rock artists Chico Ramos, Mohobub Flores and Peter "Titiman" Flores serenaded the contestants. Gwen Nunez then introduced the six candidates as each gave her main presentation in Garifuna for the judges.

The Belize City dance group and Stacy Martinez entertained the audience during an intermission while the judges tallied their scores.

Titman Flores led the candidates in a paranda dance, and the Hopkins Youth Group also gave a final presentation before the judges' decision was announced.

Judges for the event were Christina Castillo from Hopkins, Ann Martinez from Belize, Caida Nunez from Punta Gorda, Eloisa Lopez from Seine Bight, Denise Palacio of Dangriga and Anelle Guzman of Georgetown.

The Reporter

Garifuna Settlement Day Celebrations in San Pedro

The Garinagu community of San Pedro was nothing shy of showing off their rich culture, especially when it came to the drumming and dancing. Activities surrounding the day of celebration started as early as last week Tuesday with awareness activities like guest spots on the Good Morning San Pedro Morning Show, cultural and food exhibits at Central Park, visits to the primary school and Jankunu street dancing around town.

The major social event was held at Central Park on the eve of Garifuna Settlement Day where, along with the help of the San Pedro House of Culture, the Garinagu held celebratory drumming and dancing performances that lead to the traditional Yurumei which is the reenactment of the Garinagu's arrival to Belize at 5:30a.m. on Monday, November 19, 2012.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see LOTS more AWESOME photos in the Ambergris Today

Settlement Day In Hopkins And Dangriga

Daniel Ortiz found out more yesterday:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Our plan to immerse ourselves in the Garifuna Settlement Day Celebrations started in the historic village of Hopkins.

The usual flow of the celebrations is such that the reenactment is usually scheduled for 6 a.m. Whether is due to paranda artist Aurelio Martinez's concert, or some other unforeseen event, the re-enactment didn't start until 2 1/2 hours past its scheduled time.

But tardiness aside, the yurumei was as symbolic as it should be.

The Garinagu's first few times attempts to convince the Governor to grant asylum would fail. But their persistence not only granted them a new home free from war and slavery, but also a permanent status in the Belizean culture.

Francis Nunez - Ceremony Participant
"I am the director. This morning with my fellow brothers and sisters - I tell them what to do, show them to look very good, so that when we come on the shore that people will rescue us. If they try to take us away from our land, then we go. If they try to bring us on their land then are satisfy with that; praise God that they receive us when we came to the shore."

And every step of their procession to the shore is documented by a gaggle of photographers he says the cameras don't cheapen the ceremony.

Francis Nunez - Ceremony Participant
"I will be honest with you - it's really perfect. People from all over the world can come and see what we are capable with our culture here in Belize, in Hopkins."

We then moved on to the culture capital, Dangriga, where the festivities were ordained by a formal ceremony, followed by a parade through the town's main streets, which could rival Belize City's Carnival day.

But What About The Elders?

Here's Ramos's complaint:

Bert Ramos, Concerned Observer
"Right now I don't feel happy because most of the people that came from foreign and all over this country, all over the world to come out here on the 19th November - is standing up in sun hot. Not even a shade or shelter nobody put out here to cover these people. It is really unfair in my eyes. Thomas Vincent Ramos was man with vision and you are representing Thomas Vincent Ramos then you suppose to have vision. You can't come out here on 19th November - 10th September; you saw the amount of sheds that these people got? On 21st, did you see the amount of sheds these people got?"

To be fair, we must mention that we did also experience the intense heat, so we can only imagine what the elderly members of the Garifuna community had to deal with while trying to listen to the ceremonies.

Today, 7News spoke to the President of the National Garifuna Council, Francisco Zuniga, and he told us that he can't speak for the organization effort which took place in Dangriga because he was involved in the Belize City ceremonies.

He added that in Belize City, senior citizens were well accommodated, and if those same accommodations were not afforded to citizens in Dangriga, it is a topic which will be discussed at the next council meeting.

Channel 7

National Garifuna Settlement Day celebrated on Ambergris Caye

The San Pedro Cultural Committee (SPCC) in collaboration with the National Garifuna Council (NGC) held several activities ending with the 19th of November celebration commemorating National Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize. National Garifuna Settlement Day is a day set aside to remember the date when the Garinagu came to permanently settle in Belize with the first arrivals in 1803 and then later, in full force on the 19th of November 1932 led by Alejo Beni. The mixture of Caribs and shipwrecked African slaves gave birth to a new group called Garinagu who migrated from St Vincent to Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. They brought with them their ground crops, cane, coconut, plantains as well as their beliefs. For years, since their arrival to the southern coastline of Belize, the Garingu have used the month of November to highlight the struggle that their ancestors had to overcome for their survival.

During the course of the weekend of the 16th to the 19th of November, the SPCC introduced some of the core activities that are a part of the Garifuna culture. The two main events that were added to the annual celebration on the island were the house to house Jankunu (pronounced as John Canoe) dancers as well as a full cultural night on the eve of the 19th of November highlighting the Charikanari dance.

The Jankunu dance is comprised of male dancers dressed in a special dress-like outfit with colorful hanging ribbons and a gorgeous headpiece made of multi-colored feathers with a small mirror to the front. A pink mask conceals the identity of the dancer, and a knee piece made of small dangling sea shells and black or white socks completes the ensemble. The Jankunu king however, does not wear the dress-like outfit but instead uses a black pants and white long sleeve shirt with a black and white ribbon across the front. The dancers face the drummers who then beat the drums in accordance to the movement of the dancers. The dance mimics the English men who drove the Garinagu off the shores of Belize.

The Charikanari, commonly referred to as the 'two-foot cow dance' is the dramatization of a hunting scene. As this masked dance begins, the observer is introduced to a two foot cow (Charikanari) and a hunter commonly referred to as the hunta-man (Hunter). On the hunta-man's shoulder is a sixteen gauge shotgun. As the story unravels, both the Charikanari and the hunta-man move to the lilting tune of the harmonica, accompanying by the resounding, measured rhythmic boom of the Garifuna bass drum (segundo) and the lead Garifuna drum (primero). The objective is to hunt and try kill the charikanari. As usual, the antics captured the attention and imagination of a large audience at the Central Park, and at the end of the dance the performers were given a standing ovation.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more FANTASTIC photos in the San Pedro Sun

Commentary: Cultural preservation and economic development for Garifuna, not celebrations

By Wellington C. Ramos

I was born and raised in Dangriga Town, like my mother Josephine Sampson and father Finley Sylvester Ramos. My maternal grandmother Andelecia Petillo-Sampson was born in Livingston, Guatemala, and my maternal grandfather Simeon Sampson Sr. was born in Dangriga Town, Belize. My paternal grandmother Claudina Lewis-Ramos was born in Dangriga Town and my paternal grandfather Zacharus Ramos was born in Bluefield, Nicaragua. We all have relatives that we can trace to Saint Vincent ("Yuremei" -- our original homeland), Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize.

No matter where the Garifuna people live, land problems, lots, housing, education, medical, unemployment, discrimination, racism, loss of language, culture, religion, unequal distribution of their nation's wealth, political victimization, poverty and other social problems plague their communities. Yet, they do not have Garifuna organizations that are equipped with many transformational leaders that are honest, sincere and dedicated to uplift their people out of the dilemma they face daily. Many of the so-called Garifuna leaders are more concerned about promoting their self-interest over the interest of the majority of the Garifuna people.

Some choose to affiliate with politicians and political parties that have no intention of addressing the needs and concerns of our people. Several celebrations have passed with mottos and themes that sound good and well written but our people's lives are not improving. Instead, in my honest opinion, it has gone from bad to worse. These problems are not just going to go away unless we admit that they exist and develop plans and programs to eradicate them.

This year, like most years, I have heard all the speeches and have seen the dancing and the punta rock but when we all get up tomorrow, our problems will still be there for us to deal with. We cannot continue to engage in this type of fantasy behaviour any more, if we seriously want to preserve our culture and improve the lives of our people.

In the past, our ancestors had little but they were able to work hard and provide for their children and themselves. Farming and fishing played a major role in their lives, which our young children despise today. I remember going to our farm with my family when I was a child growing up to engage in slash and burn farming at Bagasrugu, three miles out of Dangriga Town early in the mornings. Those days were hard but we learnt and developed a good work ethic, discipline, pride and had food in abundance for our family to eat. Money that was made from farming was used to purchase the other items we need at home.

Why didn't the Garifuna people advance from slash and burn farming to industrial and mechanical farming when they had the land, crops and expertise? Was this a decision they made on their own or they were not given the opportunity by the governments in the countries where they live?

I think that the answers for these two questions should be researched because, from the time we stopped farming, our dependency increased tremendously. In Stann Creek District there are jobs in the citrus and banana industries but our youths do not want to work these jobs. They are either not looking for work or want jobs that do not exist. We were removed from Saint Vincent to Roatan. From there we moved to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and the United States. Where we are going next no one knows. If we keep moving from place to place and we are still having the same problems, then maybe we would have been better off staying in the same place to build on what we had.

We are citizens of all the countries where we were born and as such we should be entitled to all rights and privileges like every other citizen, despite our race. If we are not satisfied with the way we are treated in our countries, then we should bring a constitutional case against the governments that are mistreating us. If we fail in our national courts then we must not be afraid to take the cases to the International courts to seek redress. Countries that violate human rights are not popular and they lose face in world opinion when it comes to international diplomacy.

Sitting down complaining to ourselves about how the people and governments of these countries treat us will not solve our problems. Simultaneous economic development and cultural preservation is a way forward.

Caribbean News Now

Settlement Day 2012, Dangriga
A small collection of images from the 2012 Settlement Day celebrations in Dangriga, Belize