As part of the September celebrations the annual Kriol Festival was held today on the grounds of the House of Culture. The festival is notable because it is part of an effort by Belize’s Creole population to assert itself as a distinct group, rich with its own traditions that go way deeper than just a plate of rice and beans. Today the Kriol Council, the National Library Service, and NICH put on a show that proved once again that whoever said ‘Creole noh got no culture,’ was dead wrong. Here’s the story.
From Belize Elementary School’s dance number to Kayla Arnold’s comedic monologue, the Grandmaster’s poetic diatribe, and the reigning queen of Brukdown Leelah Vernon’s duet with Sylvana Woods – today it was a celebration of all things Kriol on the grounds of the House of Culture. The audience of hundreds of school children saw more than just Leela and Mr. Peters. From the nest of the Kriol culture in Gales Point they got the sambay.
[Clip of Sambay]
That’s 10-year-old Richard Cherrington. He is a part of the Fore Afrique Group from Gales Point. Emmeth Young is the group’s artistic director. He says the Garifunas have Punta, the Mayans have the Deer Dance, and the Kriols have the Sambay.
Emmeth Young, Fore Afrique
“This is Kriol. The first rthymn that we played, that is the sambay. That is the traditional fire sambay of Gales Point Manatee which is the Kriol (Creole) dance of Kriol people. Traditionally the way how this dance is done is they would form a big circle in the night around a full moon in the center of the square and then you would have one person go in the middle of the ring and do the dance. The male dance is a little bit different than the female because it is a fertility dance. It is when the young girls and guys are coming of age. This is when we do this dance. This is typical Kriol.”
And from dancing to jewelry. These pieces were hand crafted by villagers in Gales Point. Elida Zayden was buying.
Elida Zayden,
“I like to celebrating this. I come every year, this is part of my culture also.”
Keith Swift,
You’re buying jewelry?
Elida Zayden,
“Oh yes. I like that but I especially like the one that he has on.”
Gales Point was also responsible for the food. Sure you had the Creole staple: rice and beans but Ena Wade from the ‘Sisters of Point in Movement’ was cooking up cashew bun and many creations from banana. In Gales Point Manatee banana is a big part of the Creole diet. Here we have banana salad, banana fritters, I guess this is banana cake.
Ena Wade,
“This is the banana fritters made from the ripe banana. This is just like conch fritters but it is made from ripe banana. Then we have the banana salad. This is the banana salad made from the green banana with the other stuff in it. Instead of using the potato, we use the green banana.
The corn cake is made out of the green corn. We grate the green corn and then we put the coconut milk in it and sweeten it and put a little bit if nutmeg and spice it up and you bake it.”
And those who weren’t cooking, were teaching.
Keith Swift,
So you will show us how the coconut grinding machine works. Let’s see.
Ifelma Wilhelmina Bennett,
“My grandfather is from the Mosquito Caye. He is a Mayan Indian, was living in Mullins River. Well when we came well you know everybody brings their things with them and of all the grandchildren, I am the one who got it.”
Of course a culture isn’t a culture until there is a language. That is where the Kriol Language Project comes in. Those folks have already published fifteen books. Yvette Herrera is a translator for the Kriol Project.
Yvette Herrera,
“We are trying to promote to let people learn to read Creole. Everybody come and say Creole is hard to read and it isn’t hard because they already know phonics and it is written just like how it sounds.”
President of the Kriol Council is Myrna Manzanares. She says today is proof positive that whoever said Creole noh gat no culture was dead wrong.
Myrna Manzanres,
“All the time, like Leelah says, everybody says Belize Kriol doesn’t have a culture and they don’t realize that the Creole culture was the culture that established in Belize and then all the other groups that came to Belize just fitted into the Creole Culture and so because they fitted in and they were able to also promote their own culture with elements of the Creole culture and it looked like the Creole don’t have any culture.”
The day was rounded out by the plaiting of the maypole along with coconut tree climbing and greasy pole competitions.
