Motorcade Kicks off Garifuna Settlement Day Celebrations

November has just kicked off, and the Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations are already in full swing! Today, the National Garifuna Council brought the streets of Belize City to life with a vibrant motorcade, marking the start of the festivities. News Five’s Britney Gordon was on the scene to capture all the excitement. Here’s the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

It’s been two hundred and one years since the Garifuna people made their way to Belize, and the National Garifuna Council is starting this year’s celebrations with a bang! Today, the Belize City branch hosted a lively motorcade, filled with the vibrant colors and sounds of Garifuna culture. Raphael Martinez, President of the NGC in Belize City, shared more details about the festivities.

 

Raphael Martinez Sr., President, NGC Belize City

“This is the advent of the national celebrations, our November celebrations. And as you rightly mentioned just a while ago, we starting off at three o’clock or maybe a little thereafter with the motorcade. And the motorcade is actually heralding, as I mentioned before, the advent of the November celebrations for Belize city. And we are expecting quite a few vehicles to be parked outside in a short while with the Garifuna flag with the drums. We have about three or four drum groups. From Belize City and not to mention some of the schools who will be actually joining the motorcade. This  should be something very beautiful to watch and to listen to. Because, whenever the drums make a little noise, everybody wants to shake ney waist.”

 

The theme for this year’s celebrations is afeduha wamèi wagücha, afareinha waméi wanichigu, which translates to celebrating our roots, sharing our culture.

 

Raphael Martinez Sr.

“It’s two hundred and one years since the arrival of the Garifuna girl people here in Belize. It has been a big struggle, coming all the way from St. Vincent having fought with the British for so many years and being rooted and set adrift.  And from Baliceaux Balisu where half of us died, there was five thousand of us. who were exiled to Balasore  and all the other 5, 000, we had about just over two thousand probably  two thousand five hundred who were shipped all the way to Roatan, Honduras. And they thought they, they could have killed out. It was a genocidal attempt, but it did not happen.it did not happen.”

 

The motorcade kicked off at the House of Culture and looped back to its starting point, setting the stage for a night filled with dancing and feasting. The National Garifuna Council is inviting all Belizeans to join in celebrating the resilience of the Garifuna people and the vibrant community they’ve built over the past two hundred years.

 

Raphael Martinez Sr.

“Immediately after the official ceremonies, which should last about say thirty minutes,  we will go straight into Larabea and some very other talented bands from Belize City. So it’s this party all night until midnight. We have Sahou. We have Garifuna food. We have Garifuna music.  Just come out and have some fun. And this is the first day of November and this is the advent of our celebration, nineteenth November celebration. Come and learn what we have to offer until nineteenth of November. of November.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.