November 19th we celebrated our first Garifuna Settlement Day in Dangriga. Settlement day is celebrated every year to commemorate the arrival and survival of the Garifuna people to Belize in the 1820's. The Garifuna have a rich and vibrant culture, and have maintained their unique language. The vast majority of Dangriga's population is Garifuna and is considered to be their cultural capital.
The highlight of the Settlement Day celebration is the "Reenactment" of when the first Garifuna settlers landed in Belize. At sunrise (after a night of partying hard) hundreds of people start to line the banks of the Riverside, looking out into the Caribbean for the first sign of the Reenactment sailboats. When the boats make landfall, they sing traditional Garifuna songs celebrating the end of their long journey to their new home in Belize.
Drumming is a huge part of the Garifuna culture and you can hear the drummers practicing weeks in advance of Settlement Day. Then in the days leading up to Settlement Day, groups of drummers and dancers go house to house to perform (much like our tradition of Christmas caroling).
We were lucky enough to see two dance performances at our host families house thanks to our friend Clairine, our host family, and their dance group.
The Garifuna also have a rich culinary tradition with foods based on plantain, bananas, coconuts, cassava roots, and especially fish (the Garifuna are considered excellent fishermen).
I got a chance to help our host mom make a traditional Garifuna dish called "Hudut" - which is made from green bananas that are mashed with a large sort of mortar and pestle, and then formed into balls and eaten in a coconut milk and fish soup. It was the hardest dish I have ever made! My arms were so tired afterward. You have to continuously mash the green banana until they are the right consistency, using a sort of mashing and twisting motion.
Things are going great down here in Belize, and we hope to talk to you all very soon!
