Flowers Bank Festival Celebrates History

This year marks the fifteenth celebration of the Flowers Bank Village Festival, an annual event honoring the legendary Flowers Bank Fourteen who defended the settlement of British Honduras alongside the British against the Spaniards at Saint George’s Caye. The festival features locally made Belizean cuisine and traditional “old-time” games. This year promises even more excitement as the community aims to share its rich history, from its people to its river. June first is the day, and Flowers Bank Village is the place to be. To understand the festival’s significance to Belize’s history, we traveled to the Belize River Valley to learn more in this week’s look On the Bright Side.

 

Sabreena Daly, Reporting

On the tenth of September, the country of Belize recognizes the day as a national holiday, where we acknowledge the battle between the Baymen and the Spaniards in 1798. But in Flowers Bank Village, a small community of approximately one hundred and fifty residents, their acknowledgment extends beyond that singular date. These residents are descendants of some of the very men who participated in that historical event. They are called the Flowers Bank Fourteen who, over two centuries ago, broke a tied vote to defend or evacuate Belize, leading to the successful defense in the Battle of St. George’s Caye.

 

 

Marylyn Robinson, Chairperson, Flowers Bank Village

“I believe many people know that the 14 men who took part in the public meeting who voted yes Instead of running away from the Spaniards, that to me is of great significance to this community.”

 

 

 

Marylyn Robinson’s great, great, great grandfather was Adam Flowers, a member of the Flowers Bank Fourteen. She is also the chairperson of the village and shares how important it is for the generations after her to always remember the legacy of their ancestors.

 

 

 

Marylyn Robinson

“I am the great, great, great granddaughter for Adam Flowers. One of the men who was along with the fourteen, I think he was like a priority among them because he also, when it came to running away from the slaves, he was the person who they were fighting along with the judges and people who were helping them to free themselves from the safe. And he came and settled here in Flowers Bank. I’m not sure of the year but it is in the seventeen hundreds. It’s not something that’s done on a regular basis, but at times we do sit down and talk about, you know, what went on, and so we do a little skit or something that we’ll share and get the children. The younger generation is the one we need to understand the importance of these 14 names. Because when we are long gone, we will have to take up that and continue with this legacy.”

 

Seventy-eight-year-old Lincoln Flowers is the oldest member of the community and also has a deep connection to the Flowers Bank Fourteen through his great-grandfather. Although his knowledge of his ancestor Adam Flowers is limited, his admiration and respect run deeply. He even named his son after Adam to honor and preserve his legacy.

 

Lincoln Flowers, Resident, Flowers Bank Village

“Well, that’s my great grandfather.  Now, I only heard a little bit about him, so I don’t want to go through the details.  What happened, I know that he, in the time when they came here to Belize, there was an issue with others, and so that’s why Belize is still here. I try to keep it up because then I know that he was my great grandfather, my father, father and things like that.  So I got my last boy and I made sure that we, the Flowers family,  got the Adam flowers back in the village.”

 

 

While Flowers Bank’s rich history is rooted in the significant contributions of its people, it also played a pivotal role in one of Belize’s major industries in the seventeenth century.

 

Sabreena Daly
“I’m standing in front of the old Belize River, which once served as a transport route for the very mahogany trees now revered as a national symbol.”

 

 

 

By 1770, the logwood trade had declined, and settlers were harvesting mahogany, the country’s primary export until the 1950s.

 

 

 

 

Sabreena Daly

“The villagers of this community saved those very same antique tools used during that time. And in their very own museum, those are the items that you will see on display.”

 

Eleanor Mitchell, Resident, Flowers Bank Village

“These items donated from the villagers make up the history of Belize.  Like the paddle, what you use to paddle the canoe with. Like me that live across the river,  I have to come across, I have to do back and forth if the water higher or lower in a canoe.”

 

 

 

The Flowers Bank Village Museum offers an authentic glimpse into the historical essence of Belize. Thanks to the collaboration with the National Institute for Culture and History, visitors can experience this time capsule and learn from individuals like Elenour Mitchell, who donated an item belonging to her late father, a logwood cutter.

 

 

 

Eleanor Mitchell

“This is a weight. My dad said that they weighed the logwood with it.”

 

Sabreena Daly

How do you go about weighing a logwood using this?

 

Eleanor Mitchell

“Well, I can’t tell you because my father never explained all of this, but I have a bigger one to this.The chairman was asking if we have any old antiques that our parents have or grandparents to donate to the museum. So, that’s why I donated this.”

 

 

Marylyn Robinson

“I remember from growing up, because I still need to do some research, but they used to use the river, and we know that Belize old river, the old river. And so, I could remember my uncle and some other men from up the river, Willows Bank, coming down with the mahogany trees and using those hooks to make sure that we don’t get away jumping on that one, jumping on the other one, hooking them and pulling them together.”

 

The rich historical background and cultural heritage of this community are key reasons why they hold the Flowers Bank Village Festival annually.

Marylyn Robinson

“I believe that people have been carrying on with that legacy by celebrating those 14 men annually. I think this year is the 15th annual Flowers Blank Festival. And the main thing is to honor those men; To make sure that people know about them. And I believe in Belize there are lots of people that recognize the importance of this community when it comes to tourism, because tourists come here, they come to look at the monument, they come and they visit the museum, and even Belizeans may not know that that is happening right here in Flowers Bank.”

 

Robinson says that you can expect activities that are authentically Belizean; from the food to the games.

Marylyn Robinson

“We’re going to be having rice and beans with all those meats and, um, tamales, Flowers Bank tamales, the best tamales in the River Valley. And I’m going to say it loud and clear. And then for games, we have this special game we were supposed to do last year, but the fire burned the Cohune trees and we weren’t able to get cohune. But instead of lime and buckets, since cohune is special to Flowers Bank, we’re going to be having a Cohune and bucket race so people can come out and take part in the Cohune and bucket.”

 

Elders like Lincoln Flowers believe that this celebration should extend beyond the community. He sees it as a significant piece of history that holds importance for the entire country.

 

Lincoln Flowers

“I see the benefit I wouldn’t do.  If it was not for them, we probably would have a bigger problem. That’s why I tell everybody this thing, this thing that is not only for Flowers Bank people, this for the entire country of Belize. This Flowers Bank day, we shouldn’t say Flowers Bank day, it should be Belize.”

 

 

Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.