Holy Redeemer’s cultural day highlights ethnicities in Belize
Belize enjoys a rich cultural diversity and in classrooms around the country, appreciating ethnicity has become part of the curriculum. At Holy Redeemer Primary School in Belize City, a cultural day was organized and spearheaded by teachers and parents. There was plenty on display to show the varied cultures: Creole, East Indian, Garifuna, Maya, Mennonite and Mestizo.
Julia Moore, Teacher, Representing Garifuna Culture
“We wanted our children to see and learn to appreciate their ethnic background; their ethnicity, so we decided to have our cultural day. This thing started out as something small, just among the standard one classes, but with the parents assistance everything turned out to be big. We got drummer, we got Mr. Peters and the Boom and Chime, we got Lord Rhaburn, we have Mestizo dancers. When they come they will see the different languages of the ethnic groups, they will see food on display, they will see the music that the groups are known for, they will see some of their outfits, their costumes that they where. I am responsible for the Garifuna group. We have food like tapou, darasa, hudut, sere, we have cassava bread, we have cassava pudding, we have sahou, the cassava porridge. So we have a variety of foods for the Garifunas.”
Lilia Torres, Teacher, Representing the Maya Culture
“We are doing the Maya. We have the atole, the tamalito, the tamales, the caldo, which is the famous food of the Maya and fruits and vegetables to display.”
Noemi Herrera, Teacher Representing Mestizo Culture
“My class did the Mestizo, we had relleno, escabeche, picadillo, mole and we had a lot of art crafts and we also had Mestizo dancers and we had our children dancing the Mestizo dance.”
Yolanda Sutherland, Teacher, Representing Creole Culture
“I’m responsible for the Creole. And in my class, we have Mr. Peters, we have Lord Rhaburn, we have Silvana Woods. And then we also have in food, we have potato pound, dessert, potato pound, rice pudding. We have Creole bread, Creole bun. We have boil up we have cow foot soup, conch soup and we have a variety of wines.”
Michael Kemp, Teacher, Representing Mennonite Culture
“My Class we did the Mennonites. Basically, I have some of the products that they make on display and also I tried to integrate the thing that they are farmers. So the things that we use everyday are from the Mennonites so that’s on display as well.”
Naomi Robinson, Teacher, Representing East Indian Culture
“My class did the East Indian and we tried to display the different things about the East Indian Culture like the clothes, the different kind of food, the belief and we have like a little altar about the East Indian religion which we try to educate the kids more about the East Indian culture.”
