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The Garifuna Odyssey

FeaturesThe Garifuna Odyssey


Our history tells us that in the year 1635, two of those ships became wrecked off the coast of St. Vincent. Our tradition also tells us that these Africans, who had found new freedom in the Caribbean, mingled with the people they had found in the area. There were intermarriages with the Yellow Caribs, who, we were told, are the products of intermarriages between Carib men and Arawakan women, who the Caribs had taken as their wives after killing off their men, according to the book Garifuna History, Culture and Language. These intermarriages eventually led to the birth of the Garinagu, or the Black Caribs?whose language and culture reflect their dynamic heritage.


Andres Cayetano, in his article Garifuna History, published on www.garinet.com, wrote that these inhabitants of the island were also joined by escaped slaves who were shipwrecked in 1675. ?These Africans rapidly became part of the Arawakan Indian society,? he added.


During this era, there were continued wars between the colonizers and the indigenous people of the area. The authors of the aforementioned book, Sebastian and Fabian Cayetano, refer to the French and British Carib Wars of 1625 and 1660. These were preceded by wars with the Spanish.


?At the time of the French and British intervention, only the islands of the Lesser Antilles remained un-colonized. The French then made a bold attempt to colonize those Carib-occupied islands, but to each attempt, the Caribs fought back vehemently, thereby preventing French encroachment on their territories,? the Cayetanos also wrote.


To subdue the Caribs, the British?who were after the land they had cultivated?torched their possessions. There were two major wars: the Caribs won the first in 1795, and the British won the second sometime in 1796.


For the Garinagu, a pinnacle of the wars between the Caribs and the Europeans came in 1795, when Carib warrior, Joseph Chatoyer, fought against Major Alexander Leith in a duel. Chatoyer was killed, despite his belief that no man born of a woman could kill him. He must have been speaking in spiritual parables, as he continues to live in the hearts of those who revere him for his stalwart efforts. In St. Vincent, Chatoyer was made the first national hero on March 14, 2002, and March 14 is now marked as a national holiday there in his honor.


Even after Chatoyer?s death, the battles continued. The Caribs won the 1795 war against the British, but the British defeated them in 1796, a year after Chatoyer?s death. The Caribs?many of them Black?were deported from St. Vincent. A number of Garifuna historians document that there were 5,080 men, women and children deported to Balliceaux, off St. Vincent, and later shipped off to Roatan, off the Honduras coast. It is believed that about 3,000 of them perished in the journey, many of them having succumbed to disease, starvation, and harsh treatment by colonial powers along the way. Among those who were deported were descendants of the Chatoyer lineage, said the Cayetanos.


It is not incidental that the Caribs were deported to the Bay Islands in 1797. A year later, the British battled against the Spanairds to keep the only piece of territory in Central America that they had managed to colonize?British Honduras.


Nancy Gonzalez, an historian, documents that uniforms had been made for Garinagu to fight in the Battle of St. George?s Caye. It had not been established whether these Garinagu actually helped the British win the war, or not, said Dr. Joseph Palacio, Garifuna anthropologist, in a prior interview with Amandala.


The answer to that question would explain why it was that Garifuna people were later allowed to settle in British Honduras with relatively little resistance from the British?who they had warred against only a few years earlier.


In his article, A brief history of Caribs in Belize, deceased Garifuna historian, Abraham L. W. Ramos, wrote, ?Caribs first came to Belize in 1801, and they first arrived at Yarborough in Belize City on Wednesday, March 25, 1801.?


They were limited to a 2-day stay at Yarborough. ?Caribs called the place Yarbura, because of the many white buildings that they saw near their place of landing,? Ramos said.


He continued to wrote, ?By 1802, there were about one hundred and fifty Caribs in Belize City. Among the Caribs to settle at Yarborough in Belize City were Jorge Ciego, Pedro Blanco, Venancio Nunez, Jose Lewis, Franco Rhys, Antonio Reyes, Antonio Reyes, Juan Miguel, Benito Beni, Marcelo Guerrero, Clemente Serano, Simon Enriquez, Teodoro Lambey, Timoteo Diego, Cleofo Avila, Margarita Martinez, Felipe Noguera, Dionicio Avaloy, Bartolo Serano, and woman and children.?


Notice that the women were unnamed. However, one woman who has recently come to figure prominently in the settlement of Garinagu in Belize is a woman called Gulisi, believed to be Chatoyer?s daughter.


In the paper, A Re-consideration of the Native American and African Roots of Garifuna Identity, presented at the Professional Agricultural Workers Conference (PAWC), at the 58thSession, Tuskegee University, in December 2000, Palacio said, ?Not only is Chatoyer a hero in the subliminal sense, the existence of his descendants actually carrying his flesh and blood has always been a part of the collective consciousness in the town of Dangriga and several villages in southern Belize.?


Gulisi is the woman after whom the Garifuna museum in Dangriga, the Gulisi Garifuna Museum?to be inaugurated on November 18, 2004?has been named. Her direct descendants are believed to have founded many Garifuna settlements in the South, according to Palacio.


Dr. Palacio learned from Felicita Francisco that Chatoyer?s daughter, Gulisi, was one of the first to settle Belize. At the age of 24, she reportedly came to Belize from Honduras, with her 5 sons. Notably, a date has not been fixed for Gulisi?s settlement; however, if she came to Belize at the age of 24 and Chatoyer died in 1795, she must have arrived here at least by 1819.


According to the writings of Thomas Vincent Ramos, the founder of Garifuna Settlement Day, Garinagu settled Belize en masse in 1823.


The book Thomas Vincent Ramos: The Man and His Writings, reproduces a letter he wrote in 1941 to the District Commission of British Honduras, in which he lobbied for recognition of his people, and the establishment of Carib Disembarkation Day, now called Garifuna Settlement Day.


Ramos pointed out that the Garinagu, who had migrated from the Bay Islands to Honduras in the late 1790?s and the early 1800?s, were disgusted by the tyrannical rule of the people described as ?Indians.?


In 1823, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica broke away from Spanish rule and formed the United Provinces of Central America. Belize, then under British rule, was not included.


In that year, 375 Caribs had already been living at Yarborough. Their work included farming, fishing, hunting, woodcutting, carpentry, dorey-building, pataki-making, and storekeeping, according to A. L. W. Ramos?s article.


Benito Beni and his cousin Elejo Beni were among those who lobbied the then Superintendent of British Honduras Settlement, Major-General Edward Codd, asking for permission for the Caribs to migrate to what is now Belize.


?The five hundred Caribs left Honduras on Tuesday, November 18, 1823, and sailed to land at different places in this country on Wednesday, November 19, 1823,? A. L. W. Ramos said. He wrote that 300 settled in Dangriga, then Stann Creek Town, 125 in Punta Gorda, 28 in Seine Bight, 15 in Jonathon Point, and 8 in Newtown. This was, notably, less than three decades after the British-Carib wars on St. Vincent.


The entire America region had been colonized, and the Caribs had to choose where they would stay, in the interest of self-preservation. Evidently, they preferred the rule of the British.


T. V. Ramos wrote, ?It is indeed an extraordinary co-incidence that those against whom they fought a protracted war for what they regarded as an intrusion in their island homes in the Lesser Antilles ? and who, after conquering them, deported them to Ruatan, one of the Bay Islands ? extended them a hand and offered them the facility to settle in Stann Creek.?


In that era of the mass settlement, the slave trade had been abolished, and Emancipation was on its way. The colonizers needed laborers and it is documented in the book A History of Belize, Nation in the Making, that some Garinagu had worked in the mahogany camps here.


Today, there are established Garifuna communities in four Central America countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. However, others have migrated to other parts of the world, expanding the Diaspora to places like the United States and Europe. There are particularly strong Garifuna communities in places like Los Angeles and New York, and some of the most popular Garinagu abroad are artists: Pen Cayetano, painter/musician based in Germany; Aziatic, a celebrated producer/composer/musician based in Los Angeles; and Chico Ramos, veteran producer/composer/musician based in New York. Honduran Aurelio Martinez, who has become renowned in Belize and elsewhere as one of the best Garifuna parendero?s, has established strong ties with local musical icons such as Andy Palacio?reputed for exhibiting the richness and vivacity of Garifuna music on the international stage.


Garifuna art forms?and particularly the music?have been instrumental in sharing the value and richness of the Garifuna culture.


Under the celebratory sounds of these artists, and many others who have burst on the scene, Garinagu and friends will this year mark the 181starrival of the Garinagu to Belize?s shores. This year, the theme is: Nibagarila Garifunad?o? Luma Wererun, Wabien, Wagaira Luma Uboagu – Keep the Garifuna Culture and Language Alive at Home, in our Communities, and Worldwide.

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