NGC Launches Calendar for November Celebrations

We’re just days away from November, and that means the vibrant sounds of Garifuna drums and culture will soon take center stage. Today, the National Garifuna Council’s Belize City branch unveiled its calendar of events for Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations. It all kicks off this Saturday with the Miss Garifuna Belize City Pageant, followed by a panel discussion on November eleventh, a tribute to T.V. Ramos on the thirteenth, and a music and food festival on the eighteenth, leading up to the big Yurumein reenactment on the morning of the nineteenth. We spoke with NGC Belize City President Raphael Martinez and other members about what’s in store.

 

Raphael Martinez, President, NGC Belize City

“All the events and activities for the eighteenth and nineteenth of November will be taking place at the Belize Civic Center compound. And, this year we want to make it even bigger. The reenactment is starting from there. So, seven o’clock in the morning we have the reenactment of the Garifuna people arriving in Belize. Between seven and seven-thirty there is a parade to the Saint Martin De Porres Church where the mass will be held in commemorating the arrival and thanksgiving ceremony. Seven thirty the mass start. Then there will be a pilgrimage back to the Belize City Center where we have the opening remarks at ten o’clock and after that it is all day fair, until the break of dawn. We have food, drnks. It is a food and music festival. We have a good line up of artist and a whole line up of Garifuna cuisine. So, we are looking at six on the eighteen to six nineteenth morning.”

 

Denise Casamiro, Member, NGC Belize City

“We are having our Belize City pageant this Sunday, the twenty-fifth of October at the Belize Elementary Auditorium at six p.m. Also, after the pageant we will be having a bash on Freedom Street. Come and learn about Garifuna culture. Come and see the ladies showcase the traditional wear, the Garifuna dances and come and learn a little bit of the language as well.”