Garifunas of Belize Guatemala Social Movements Protect Their Culture and Language

Garifunas of Belize and Guatemala and their Social Movements

Garifunas of Belize and Social Movements to Protect Their Culture and Language

At first Garifuna settlements, founded in the early 1800’s, were not well accepted in Belize, but rather the English speaking white population suggested removing them from the Settlement.  However, eventually they were accepted because they provided help patrolling the Coast, they sold food which the women raised, and the men worked cutting mahoghany in the 19^th century.  Catholic missionaries were active among them, and starting in the 1800’s founded schools among them  Beginning around 1913, the Jesuit priests who worked among the Garifuna began using Garifuna teachers all around Belize. One author estimated that 75% of the teachers in rural Belize were Garifunas.  Many were multilingual, speaking Garifuna, Spanish, Creole English and Mayan languages.

In 1920 Garifuna Thomas Vincent Ramos immigrated with his wife from Honduras to Belize. He was a school teacher, but also a visionary founding the Carib Development and Sick Aid Society (CDS) and later the Carib International Society (CIS).  Both organizations spread and were established in all Garifuna communities of Belize and the CIS has affiliations as well in Guatemala and Honduras.  He fought to get Garifuna nurses assigned to Dangriga hospital, in a Garifuna community of Dangriga or Stann Creek. He was concerned with the promotion and preservation of the Garifuna cultural heritage.  In 1940 he approached the Governor of the Belize with two other Garifunas and asked for the establishment of a Public and Bank Holiday to observe the arrival of the Garifunas from Roatan, Honduras under Alejo Beni November 19^th.  This was granted and “Settlement Day” was celebrated in Stann Creek District beginning in 1941.  In Punta Gorda or Toledo District it began to be celebrated in 1943.  In 1977 Garifuna Settlement Day became officially a Public and Bank Holiday throughout Belize  T. V. Ramos died 13 November 1955 and every year on November 13, there is a torchlight parade in honor to his contribution to the Garifuna people and Belize. (Sebastian Cayetano in Avila, 2009)

This inspired Guatemalan, Honduran, and US Garifunas.  In Guatemala, they celebrate the settlement of the Livingston area by Honduran Garifunas with a ceremony called “Yarumein” (St. Vincent). Previously they celebrated this together with the fair of San Isidro Labrador, but after the Declaration of National Garifuna Day as 26 November, they moved the event to the 26 November (Arrivillaga Cortes, 2007).    In Honduras, Garifuna organizations like ODECO have sought to have special times set aside to remember the Garifuna arrival, which has resulted since the 1990’s  in “Mes de Herencia Africana” the African Heritage month in April to honor the culture and heritage of all Afro-Hondurans including Garifunas, Bay Islanders, Miskitos and Afro-Mestizos, and later “Garifuna Day” 12 April. This Day is celebrated with parades, cultural presentations, speeches, and sometimes a Garifuna Mass or an arrival of the Garifunas by canoe, used both to represent the arrival of the Garifunas to Honduras and the arrival of the ancestors for the ancestor ceremony dugu since 1997, the bicentennial of the arrival of the Garifunas to Honduras. While most Garifuna communities arrange some sort of event to celebrate Garifuna Day, Garifuna organizations like ODECO also try to arrange one big Garifuna Day event in a different Garifuna community each year.   Some years Honduran presidents like Manuel Zelaya and Pepe Lobo come to Garifuna communities like Trujillo and Santa Fe to celebrate African Heritage month, together with all the Honduran press who follow them, so there is sometimes Honduran  national press coverage of these events.   New York Garifunas under the Garifuna Coalition have successfully sought to have 13 March to 12 April declared Garifuna-Honduran heritage month in New York and it is celebrated with a series of events including a mass for the victims of the Happy Land fire, a dinner and cultural presentation and awards to Garifuna community leaders in both New York and Central America (www.Garifunacoalition.org)

Like the Honduran Garifuna, the Belizean Garifunas were active in the trade unions which became legal after 1943, particularly the General Workers Union which had members and affiliates in Dangriga among the Garifuna of the Pomona Citrus Factory. Between 1950-1952 the labor union leaders also became leaders of political movement which in 1952 became the People’s United Party.  Shortly thereafter George Price emerged as leader of that.  In 1954, under the leadership of Mr. Price, universal adult suffrage was achieved, a right that had previously been denied in this multi-ethnic, polyglot country.

In 1961 Hurricane Hattie struck Belize and destroyed Belize City and Dangriga.  It was economis ruin for Belize.  Shortly thereafter Belizeans, Creoles, and Garifunas began immigrating to the US, mostly in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.  It has been estimated there are 20,000-50,000 Belizeans in the US.  In 1988, remittances to Belize totaled $10 million dollars.

In 1966 some Belizean Garifunas formed the Waribagaba Dance Group. In 1967, some Karibs from St. Vincent were brought to Belize, the first meeting of Karibs from St. Vincent and the Garifuna in almost 200 years.   In 1972  the Miss Garifuna Belize National Contest was started. In 1979 Garifuna Theodore Aranda assumed the leadership of the United Democratic Party, the highest post ever held by a Garifuna up to that time. The first Garifuna to hold a Permanent Secretary position (a cabinet post similar to Honduran Ministries) was Edmund Zuniga in the Ministry of Defense in 1988. On October 7, 1982 Garifuna Father Martin was ordained Bishop Oswald Peter Martin, the Bishop of Belize and Belmopan. A Garifuna radio show was started in 1980 and the National Garifuna Council of Belize  was formed in 1981. The Garifunas who make up only 6% of the population of Belize were being recognized.

The main task of the Garifuna Council is the coordination and enhancement of economic, cultural and social development of Garinagu in Belize. Together with the Toledo Maya Council, the Garifuna Council became a founding member in 1987 of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP), which also included the Karibs of Dominica and St. Vincent and the Indians of Guyana.  The first conference was held in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the theme of the Conference was Caribbean Indigenous Revival: towards Greater Recognition and Development. Dr.  Joseph Palacio, a Garifuna anthropologist, and resident tutor of the University of West Indies, Belize, was the coordinator of the COIP Secretariat in Belize.  His 2005  book The Garifuna a Nation across Borders,  is for sale on Amazon.com. In 1988, the Garifuna Council was fully legalized and registered in Belize and organized a trip to 10 Honduran Garifuna communities (This entire section on the Belizean Garifunas is from Sebastian Cayetano’s article “Garifuna Re-Settlement in Central America:Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize” in Avila, 2009). There have been many meetings between Belizean Garifuna linguist Roy Cayetano who wrote the People's Dictionary English-Garifuna, Garifuna.English and was a member of the National Garifuna Council of Belize, and the Garifuna teachers of Honduras to help develop a standardized Garifuna alphabet as part of the bilingual-intercultural education program.. The Garifuna Council has also organized courses on making Garifuna crafts and courses on Garifuna dancing in Belize.

Garifuna Organizations in Guatemala

The Garifuna live in Guatemala in or around the port of Livingston on the Gulf Coast of Guatemala.  There are an estimated 4,000-5,000 Guatemalan Garifunas (Avila, 2009).  In the 1980's young Garifunas who belonged to the group "Ibimeni" (sweetness) formed a group that later became "Despertar Garifuna Marcos Sanchez Diaz" (Wake Up Garifuna Marcos Sanchez Diaz).  Marcos Sanchez Diaz was the leader of the group of Garifunas who founded the Garifuna settlements in Guatemala in 1799.  Later the organization "Organización Negra Guatemalteca" (Organization of Guatemalan Blacks) was formed.  The Guatemalan Garifunas have fought to have a special day named after them, and 26 November is now National Garifuna Day (Arrivillaga Cortés, 2007)  The Garifuna did not play a significant part during the recent 30 year civil war in Guatemala, preferring to remain neutral or after 1960 to immigrate to the US.  While in Honduras and in Belize, there are now modern large cement block homes in Garifuna communities, built by Garifunas in the US who plan to return someday and live in them in their retirement, as 1990, these types of homes were not being built by the Guatemala Garifuna immigrants (Avila, 2009). A number of Guatemala Garifunas living in the US like Paula Castillo, Socie Style,Eddy GNG and some members of Garifuna Kids have become famous as Garifuna musicians or singers, with Socie Style's music with Soriano (aka Jasha) "Wara Wara" getting almost 20,000 hits on YouTube (www.beinggarifuna.com).  There is a CD of tradtional Guatemalan Garifuna music for sale by Barnes and Noble.com  on the Internet--Ibimeni-Garifuna Traditional Music from Guatemala.  There is a custom that the Garifuna Women's Dance Club of Livingston, Guatemala some years comes to Trujillo to sing with the women's dance clubs there, and other years the Trujillo women's dance clubs go to Livingston, Guatemala to sing.  This helps keep ties strong between this otherwise isolated Garifuna community and the other Garifuna communities.   The Garifunas of Guatemala have a bilingual-intercultural education program as do the various Maya groups of Guatemala and the Xinca Indians of Guatemala, reports Tulane linguist and anthropologist Judith Maxwell.