Garifuna Settlement Day

November 19^th is Garifuna Settlement Day in Dangriga. The Garifuna Culture is comprised of exslaves from Africa that landed in Dangriga and eventually settled there. They have a rich African roots culture filled with colorful dancing, drumming and unique food. I had been looking forward to this day for a while as I am thoroughly intrigued by this rich culture because it is slowly dying out here in Belize. In fact, we have two PCVs that are assigned to the preservation of this culture. They have a school in Dangriga that teaches the children about the history and traditions of the Garifuna. They learn the language and wear the traditional clothing as their school uniforms. I met some other volunteers that came up from PG in the morning upon arriving in Dangriga on the 18^th. Everyone stays up dancing, drumming and eating in the streets to ring in November 19^th. At 6 in the morning, they have a reenactment of when the Garifuna Settlers arrived in Dangriga. A famous Garifuna dish is called Hudut. It is coconut milk, Ocra, and Fish served with a dollop of mashed and boiled plantains. It is really nice but hard on the stomach due to the rich coconut milk. We partied in the streets all night, meeting tons of people, learning about the culture, listening to the drumming and music, dancing and eating. It was a lot of fun and a very interesting night.