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Wanaragua

LettersWanaragua

To Whom It May Concern:

With the holiday season approaching, I recently saw a Wanaragua (John Canoe) video on Facebook and decided to repost along with commentary of why I love Wanaragua and why Christmas Day is my most joyous day of all. My commentary resonated with a few people and I was encouraged to contact your press department.

My name is Byron Martinez. I currently reside in Los Angeles, CA, but was born and raised in Dangriga Town. Wanaragua is a time-honored tradition that we as Belizeans should all be proud of. Here in Los Angeles we still honor this tradition by driving around the city performing from house to house in a caravan of vehicles, but it doesn’t come close to that youthful feeling of waking up to Wanaragua in Dangriga.

Nonetheless, I’ve included the post below for your consideration to print in your publication.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Byron Martinez

Dah So Bwoy…

All the gifts, the lights, the food, and blessings of America could never replace the sound of the Segundo drums (Big Drums) sounding off and warming up for Wanaragua (John Canoe) in Dangriga, Belize, on Christmas morning. As a native Belizean from Dangriga Town currently residing in Los Angeles, I long for those Christmas mornings when we first heard the drums.

American Christmas is centered around commercialism and capitalism. But in a small southern town of Belize, kids and adults alike are preparing their white shirts and white pants. Gathering their ribbons, plucking the feathers of parrots and meticulously prepping their crown so as to look as beautiful and as militant as possible.

This elegant, combative, aggressive, and strenuous dance goes from one house to another. Warriors (dancers) enter the ring challenging the Primero Drummer (Small Drum) while gayusas (singers) call songs from our ancestors. This symbiotic relationship lives in a space of co-dependency, where the dancer aggressively challenges the drummer with new and alternating moves, all the while simultaneously still adhering to the basic rhythms of the Wanaragua. The dancers are constantly hoping the Primero will fall behind and will be unable to follow their moves…it’s a constant battle between the Primero drummer and the dancer.

As the Wanaragua move from house to house, the drummers, singers (gayusas), and dancers are greeted with food and drinks. The aroma of vanilla and freshly baked cake fill the streets of Griga. The pride in Wanaragua derives from its collective and communal engagement. As the Wanaragua advance to the next house, chairs are carefully placed outside awaiting the drummers, and the elders gather around to assist the gayusas so as to help strengthen the impact of the songs but also give the traveling gayusas’ vocals a rest. Many of these songs survived the Garinagu trek all the way from Honduras, so the elders tend to be our repository for the good songs. Watching Wanaragua without a good set of gayusas is like watching your favorite movie on mute. Pointless. If the drummers are the heartbeat of the Wanaragua, then the gayusas are its soul. As a dancer, when you hear the drummer break the drum and call you in to the ring, the sounds of the gayusas transcend you. There is no underestimating the power of our gayusas. And to think that they typically are unpaid; they simply do it from the heart and for the love of culture.

Just as impactful for a dancer, besides the gayusas, are the drummers. Every dancer can name you his favorite drummer and vice versa. Drums come in two parts: Segundos and Primero. Both are very demanding. There’s usually a pair of Segundo drummers; they provide the bass and consistency of the Wanaragua. Pounding that drum for thirty to forty-five minutes (00:30 – 00:45) is not for the faint of heart. The Segundo must be in sync, consistent in tempo, and audible. Once the gayusas and crowd get going, dancers time their entry into the ring according to the Segundo drummers, so it must be clearly audible.

Sandwiched between your two Segundo drummers is your Primero drummer. Most drummers will openly admit that Wanaragua is the most difficult dance to play, because just about every dancer, at every house, will just about challenge you with something. And just the thought of playing for an average of thirty (30) dancers, sometimes starting from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., is daunting. But the relationship between a drummer and a dancer is filled with reciprocity; even though the dancer is challenging the drummer, there is a mutual benefit if the drummer can perfectly time the dancer moves.

Wanaragua dancers are skilled, weird, scared, gleeful, childlike, attention-seekers, proud, and competitive. They spend weeks preparing for Christmas Day, but if asked whether they will dance, the answer is always a doubt-filled, “Bwoy, I nuh know enuh.” That’s usually a clue that they will dance, they just want it to be a surprise when they step out. A lot of pride goes into a Wanaragua outfit, and families spend a lot of monies to see that their boys/men are properly geared up for the season. The Wanaragua outfit consists of four parts: the crown, the mask, the ribbon, and the staples — shirt, pants, stockings, gloves, and shoes. The base of the crown is built like a traditional crown with looping ears on the side. It is always decorated with three parrot feathers on the top, and flowers designed from crepe paper adorn the crown with mirrors. The mask is pink with Caucasian facial properties. The ribbons are of two types; green and pink ribbons are for Christmas Day and black ribbons are for New Year’s day. Dancers are permitted to wear whatever color ribbons they prefer on Dia Rae — the last day of the Wanaragua. On Christmas Day, pants and shirts must be white, while on New Year’s day, pants are black and shirts are white. Wanaragua leaders historically have been very strict about dress code and the rules of the Wanaragua. This also includes the fact that if someone is not properly dressed or not dressed at all, they will be banned from entering the ring.

Dancers follow the rules; they ‘gears up’, as it’s frequently called, and step out. Family members and friends also come out in support of their loved ones. Wanaragua typically starts around 10 a.m.; at this point it’s mainly the younger generation that starts off. Around 3 p.m. the older, more seasoned, dancers start to emerge. On-lookers start to point and identify dancers. Previously it was forbidden for a dancer to remove his mask in or around the ring. But today’s dancers are usually identifiable by a piece of clothing or tennis shoes.

As a dancer, when you jump in the ring it is one of the most exciting moments in your life. You already have your sequence of moves mapped out in your head. You can clearly hear the gayusas wailing, the Segundo drummers have the right tempo, and you can feel the bass. Most dancers will try to establish a communication with the Primero drummer. At this point they’re usually tapping their left leg to the bass of the Segundo, and then the Primero drummer establishes communication with the dancer and breaks the drummer. It’s go time! Your typical dancer will start off with trimblings (aka sheh-sheh). This is arguably the hardest but most appealing part of the Wanaragua. This requires the dancer to face the drummers, bend his knee, put his hands up and palms out, then repetitively lift both feet off the ground in unison as he advances toward the drummer. This gives the perception of the dancer simply gliding toward the drummer. This is beautiful but exhausting.  Newcomers to the dance and the youth find this very appealing, but true lovers of the dance know that the Bounquata is where it’s at. Bounquata usually follows the sheh-sheh, the dancer typically stands upright, hands fixed high in the air, with a stern look to the drummer and starts to alternate one foot behind the other as he goes in a circle. He often drops one hand to the chest to signal and welcome the hiñaru (female — pronounced Hi-ya-rouh). The hiñaru is usually a woman or a male dressed as a woman. When a dancer can flawlessly execute the sheh-sheh into the bounquata followed by dancing with the hiñaru, returning back to the sheh-sheh, then he gets the ultimate prize, the utterance of those three famously gratifying words, “Dah so bwoy…..” Hearing your fans, family, and friends give you the signature “Dah so bwoy,” simply means you are killing it!

Wanaragua unifies Dangriga. It’s one of those rare moments when most people can remember seeing their grandmother with her friends, grandfather with his friends, father, mother, siblings all partaking in the same activity with smiles and laughter. Spectators jostle for better viewing positions, oohing and awing at the dancers. Onlookers get dressed, converse, and follow the Wanaragua in their best outfits into the dark of night. It’s simple, it’s basic, it’s free, but it’s the most pleasing thing a town can do on the Earthstrong of Christ Himself. The love of Wanaragua is so powerful that as for long as I can remember my cousin Bunny Wailer — arguably one of Griga’s finest, annually has flown from New York to dance in Griga.

I still don’t understand how it is that I never received one single gift for Christmas in Belize, but still Christmas Day in Dangriga is my favorite day of them all. It’s been 25 years since I celebrated a Christmas in Dangriga and I long for it every year. I want my kids to wake up to the Segundo Drums as I did as a child. Armed with this knowledge I encourage you to go and witness this dance where it’s performed best, Griga. And I hope Belize can learn a thing or two from this pastime treasure.

Remember, America certainly has a great build-up to Christmas. Then it all culminates to about 15 minutes of gift-opening and then the entire holiday season wraps up…. While in Dangriga….things are just getting started. And it won’t finish until Jan. 6th (Dia-Rae), the last day of the Wanaragua.

Cheers

Hon. Lord Byron of Lakeland
Stadium Music Enterprise (SME)

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