Garifuna culture celebrated out west
With major holiday weekend events set for Dangriga and Hopkins there will be no shortage of activities centred around Garifuna Settlement Day. But not all the celebrating will take place in the Stann Creek District…as News 5’s Patrick Jones found out.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The style is the same…and so is the sound…but come Friday morning, south will meet west, as a group of culture minded residents of the Georgeville/Unitedville area of the Cayo District will ring in Garifuna Settlement Day on the banks of the Big Barton Creek. Sandra Wragg is coordinating the event.
Sandra Wragg
?We?re going to do the re-enactment of the nineteenth and where the dories are going to come down the creek and then we?re going to have a little parade back up to here. Then we are going to have a priest do a short service for us and then the drums are going to carry on beating through the nineteenth.?
Wragg says the celebration will being early on Thursday and continue through the night with drumming and dancing. Organizers say the first ever re-enactment in Cayo is designed as alternative for people who miss out on going south for the holiday.
Sandra Wragg
?I use to always go to Stann Creek for the nineteenth. But now that I have my own business I can?t make it. And also there are a lot of Garifuna people in this area who cannot really go to Stann Creek for whatever reason, maybe finance or whatever reason; they just can?t make the trip right now. So I am trying to bring the Garifuna culture from Stann Creek to this area here.?
And this area here includes people from many other cultures, who during preparations last night, felt right at home.
The drummers and dancers are mostly from Georgeville. And while not all the participants are Garinagu, Lisborn Marin says the cross cultural participation will only enhance the celebration.
Lisborn Marin
?It means a lot to me because we?re all Garifuna here, and we have some creoles in the midst and we want to have them enjoy the culture as well as I am. And make everyone who cannot know about the culture at least come and make we teach one another as well as enjoy our day.?
And if you truly cannot make it to Dangriga, Marin says Unitedville is the next best place for people in the Cayo area.
Lisborn Marin
(Speaks in Garifuna)
Wragg says she is not looking for any rewards, just hoping that everyone will have a peaceful celebration. That is why she is trying to make the event as close as possible to what will happen in Dangriga.
Sandra Wragg
?Yes we are going to get it as similar as possible. We?ve already started gathering some stuff already. We?ve got the plantains and the food and some people are going to help me prepare, on Thursday we?re going to prepare some of the food. On Thursday evening I am going to have help to do that.?
?The youths of today, they don?t really seem interested in things like this at times. And I hate to see us loose this culture. I know I am not Garifuna, but I would hate to see it die because I love it.?
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Lisborn Marin will play the primero, while Elsworth Vasquez beats the Segundo. The other drummer is Mark Arzu while Michael Spain is assisting with the logistics for the programme.
