Seventeenth Annual Battle of the Drums is Here!

The Seventeenth Annual Battle of the Drums is set to take place in Punta Gorda this weekend as a lead up to the Nineteenth of November Garifuna Settlement Day celebration.  The festive weekend kicks of this Friday with two events.  News Five spoke with Darius Avila, President of the Battle of the Drums Secretariat.

Darius Avila

Darius Avila, President, Battle of the Drums

“Eleventh of November sees two main events on our calendar.  In the morning, we have the annual primary schools Garifuna Translation Contest at Father Ring’s Parish Hall starting at nine a.m.  This is where schools from across the south: Barranco, Punta Gorda, Seine Bight, Georgetown and Hopkins participate and they bring their students to participate in a contest where word, phrases and sentences are given in standard English and the participants will translate those words, phrases and sentences into Garifuna.  This is part of our Garifuna language retrieval program and we are happy that for over thirteen years we have been able to host this particular primary schools Garifuna Translation Contest.  And then moving on to the night, as we would say in Belize, all hell breaks loose because then the events, the bashment and the festivities start.  So the food and fete is an event that we hold every year and that is held on the Friday and that basically opens up the weekend of events, of partying and socializing.  So the food and fete will be held on Friday, November eleventh, starting at nine p.m. and in this event, we showcase Garifuna cuisine and Paranda music. And then we go into the Saturday, the Seventeenth Annual Battle of the Drums Competition and Show.  The festivities for this starts at 1:30 p.m., with a motorcade through the streets of Punta Gorda Town where we showcase the ten groups that will be participating in the Battle of the Drums Competition and Show.  As soon as the motorcade is over, at 7:30 p.m. we start the Battle of the Drums Competition and Show and we have ten groups participating, namely: a group from Honduras, a group from Guatemala, two groups from Belize City, two groups from Dangriga, a group from Hopkins, one from Seine Bight, one from Georgetown and one from Peini, Punta Gorda.  So we have ten groups in that lineup and wow, they will be competing to be crowned the masters of the drums.”