Children celebrate Garifuna culture
With the tempo of preparations for next week’s Garifuna Settlement Day rapidly increasing, a group of Belize City students today had the opportunity to join in the fun…and feel the beat of the nation’s most vibrant culture.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The banner strung across the Belize City Centre this afternoon said it all. It was Belizean children celebrating the country’s ethnic diversity. The fourth annual Garifuna children’s rally brought out hundreds of primary school students from across the city to see and take part in the show.
Dativa Martinez, Organizer, Children’s Rally
“The idea was sprung by the National Garifuna Council together with the House of Culture. And it was essentially to give Belize City children an opportunity to feel, celebrate, appreciate a little bit of the Garifuna culture.”
The cultural displays included music, poetry, song, and dance. And although at this early stage of their lives most children don’t know a lot about the Garinagu…
Yasser Murrillo, Standard 6 Student, St. Mary’s School
“That they came here after slavery.”
…Or what they colours of the Garifuna flag stand for…
Darlene Mossiah, Standard 6 Student, St. Mary’s School
“Black slavery, white peace, yellow struggle.”
…It did not stop them from enjoying an afternoon of fun and enjoyment, across ethnic lines.
(Children trying to dance the John Cunu)
Dativa Martinez
“We send invitations to all Belize City primary schools. It is not particularly for Garifuna children, it is for the children of Belize City because we know that celebrations are usually common in Dangriga, common in the south, Punta Gorda. But here in Belize City our children don’t get this opportunity to celebrate. They will probably not come out and see the re-enactment, attend the mass, and all those activities. So this children’s rally is planned so that Belize City children, residents, and who go to school here can have an opportunity to get a little feel for what happens in the other districts for the nineteenth.”
(Children imitating Garifuna priest, cassava baking, and cassava grating)
If it is true that children learn by example, then its safe to say that the hundreds of boys and girls at today’s Garifuna rally were well education in the art of cultural expression. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Following today’s rally the children were presented with refreshments and small gifts were handed out, courtesy of the Bhojwani family from the Wellworth chain of stores. The theme for this year’s Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations is: It is in Unity and Love That We Will Progress.
