Garifuna Ancestry
The Garifuna are
descendants of both Carib Indians and black slaves.
Today, they remain a culture apart.
The Garifuna trace their origin
to 1635 when the Spanish wrecked two shiploads of West African slaves
off St. Vincent.
The slaves intermarried with
the Caribs to and became known as the Black Caribs.
To fight the British on St. Vincent, they allied with the French.
When the British took
over in 1797, they exiled the Garifuna to the Bay Islands
and the mainland.
Today, an estimated 300,000
Garifuna live in Honduras, Belize and Guatemala.
The Garifuna keep their African heritage alive through
story telling, drumming, dancing and special festivals.
Although becoming more modernized,
some still use the traditional home of thatch and mud.
A woman in the village of Sambo
Creek who is building a new home tells me that 4 workers will
construct her dwelling in 5 days.
And, barring a direct hit by
a hurricane, it will last her for years. But if it
is destroyed, finding building materials to replace it won't be that
difficult.
And nothing will need be
imported.
To Honduras
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