Thursday, February 29, 2024
The publisher of Amandala encouraged me to read about the Caste Wars in Yucatán, through his writings about it over the years, and more recently, by encouraging me to read the history of this war for myself. I was reluctant at first, but now I can’t stop digesting every page so far. I’m not going to write about the war; that’s Mr. Hyde’s forte; and no one, in my opinion, could do a better job of explaining and telling the story. What I will do is to try and explain how much that war played a critical role in the racial and social order of our Jewel. This will be a brief explanation. I’m not a historian, just an observer of history and the effects it has had on, in this case, Belize!
Before the Caste Wars in Yucatán, the population of then British Honduras was comprised of thousands of recently freed black former slaves, by the Garinagu, the English masters, and the original inhabitants of this precious land, the Maya. I don’t know what the interactions were between the Maya and these interlopers from strange lands, but as far as I know, from the little history we were taught about this period, there was no obvious animosity between the former slaves and the Maya. They lived and labored in their own homogeneous communities and still do, for the most part. This was my understanding of our colony, pre the Caste wars.
As a little boy living and growing up in San Estevan, I used to wonder why a lot of the kids in my class had these Asian features, with names like Patt, Eck and Chan. To me, a school chum named Marcial Chan was Chinese; I mean, he looked Chinese, but was in fact pure Maya! Most of the villagers had these short, abbreviated names; the rest were European names, Vega, Castillo, Perrera, Hernandez, etc. Living there made me aware of the fact that my country wasn’t black, after all, but a mixture of races. There was even a difference in the features of those with European names and the Maya, and it was obvious back then that the Mestizo had a leg up on the Maya, socially and economically. I think that has changed over the years with some of the biggest cañeros being Maya!
Now that I look back, it was mostly a Maya village, all the customs, except for religion, were Maya. The fajina, the food, mainly beans and tortillas and whatever game meat added, was Maya. Escabeche, relleno, pibil, dukunu, tamales and all the corn desserts, were Maya. The thatched roof huts, with the hammock in the middle of the room, and a table with relics and candles in the corner. They had the bruja or witch, who could give you potions to help in affairs of the heart; the shaman, who would cure one of snake bites and any other ailments, with herbs. They were better than modern medicine, in many ways. The villagers loved dressing in white and straw hats, and usually went bare feet or in sandals. And they spoke mostly in their language, amongst themselves. But the features were the most distinctive sign of the difference between the two.
I haven’t read the entire history of the war; it is a very serious book by Nelson Reed. But from what I know from previous history, especially through Amandala, there was a large migration, or rather an escape, to Belize from Yucatan by Mestizos, running for their lives to escape the wrath of those Maya machetes. The Maya, who were tired of subservience and abuse and oppression had finally had enough. These refugees changed the landscape of our Jewel, for the better, in my opinion.
So, what was once a colony of mostly Creoles, Maya and Garinagu, became infused with a Mestizo influx, increasing the population significantly, and permanently redefined the social makeup of our Belize. The Mestizos settled mainly in the 2 northern districts and northern cayes, and in an ironic twist of fate, mixed and intermarried with the Maya population of Belize, cousins to their sworn enemies up north in Yucatán!
As I mentioned earlier, this is not a history lesson, it’s just my take on a little part of how we grew into the country we now live in. How for almost 175 years, we have lived in relative peace and prosperity with each other. I’m not forgetting the blatant racism heaped on the Garifuna population, first by the British, and then inherited and perpetrated by Creoles who had the British slave mentality. That is a story for another time, better to be left up to JC Arzu and his contemporaries to expound and expand upon.
It is such a shame that it has taken this long to learn the history of my country, and the impact our neighboring countries have had on our formation as a multicultural society. Because of colonialism and religion and blatant disregard and indifference by politicians, we have been denied the right to fully grasp the importance of a national and patriotic identity, and the zeal that it produces, deep in one’s soul!
Glen