Celebrating Garifuna Settlement Day Virtually

Across the country, Garifuna Settlement Day will be celebrated on Thursday.  The nineteenth of November is traditionally a time of year when the culture of the Garifuna people is honored through music, food and an overall awareness of their plight as they journeyed from St. Vincent to the Bay Islands of Honduras and onward to Belize.  This year’s celebration, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, much like other major festivities, will be celebrated virtually, and persons wanting to enjoy the re-enactment of the arrival of the Garinagu to Belizean shores will have to do so via an online medium.  News Five spoke with Sebastian Cayetano who shared the theme, as well as the itinerary for this year’s celebration.

Sebastian Cayetano

Sebastian Cayetano, Garifuna Activist/Historian

“The theme chosen for this year by the National Garifuna Council, Hadamuri Garinagu is Garinagu: Ouwara, Herre, Awansera asta lidan liderenouga.  The English translation is “Garinagu, United and Strong, Moving Forward Despite Challenges” and one of our big problems is preserving the Garifuna language.  Last year, our theme was “Lererun Garifuna laguchabei labagaridu Garifunaduou, meaning Garifuna Language is the foundation of Garifuna Survival.  That was last year’s theme; it’s a theme that I love.  We are doing well so far, but we can do much, much better.  We have some challenges of course and part of our challenge is the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our poverty, the economic situation of our people and of course the continued rapid erosion of our language and with the language also goes culture.”