Historic homecoming in St Vincent

Garifunas return home: The group of Honduran Garifuna shortly after their return home to Yurumein – St. Vincent last Thursday

by Kenton Chance
Caribbean Net News Correspondent

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: Vincentians celebrated National Hero’s Day on Monday. Activities to commemorate the event revolved around the remembrance of the life and effort by Paramount Carib Chief, Joseph Chatoyer, the country’s sole official national hero, to prevent the Europeans from colonising St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the 18th century. 

As the multi-island state celebrates National Hero’s Day, a very important chapter in the history of the Eastern Caribbean nation is being written. 

Last Thursday, the local Garifuna Heritage Foundation welcomed to the shores of SVG a fifteen-member group from the International Garifuna Folkloric Ballet Company of Honduras.

The group is led by its director Armando Crisanto and includes the deputy director Jose Blanco and head of choreography Ashanti Crusante. 

It is believed that this is possibly the first return to St. Vincent of a delegation of Garifuna from Honduras since the Garifuna people were exiled from St. Vincent by the British to Rotan Island -- off the coast of Honduras -- in 1797.

The mass exodus came after the British had conquered the island following the death of Paramount Carib Chief Joseph Chatoyer on 14 March 1796. 

As the LIAT De Havilland aircraft, on which the Hondurans travelled to St. Vincent, touched down at the E.T. Joshua Airport, a quartet of local Garifuna intensified their drumming as they welcomed home the Honduran brethren.

“This is a very emotional moment for me because for a long time we didn’t know if any Garifuna from Honduras had visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I want to say welcome and welcome to this moment in history,” said Zoila Ellis Browne, head of the local Garifuna Heritage Foundation during a welcome ceremony at the VIP lounge of the airport.

She described as “long and difficult” the process of organising the visit. 

“…but now I feel that it was worthwhile,” Ellis Browne, speaking through Roxell John who translated her sentiment into Spanish, continued

Minister of Tourism and Culture Rene Baptiste was also on hand to welcome the Honduran Garifuna.

“Today is a very, very special day and am happy to be alive to witness this day because I had a dream when I was given this Ministry to retrieve the Garifuna Heritage and culture for the benefit of this generation,” a very solemn Minster Baptiste said. 

“I heard about the root and the heritage of the people who walked many centuries ago on these lands. 

“St Vincent and the Grenadines was never discovered by any Europeans, the blood of your ancestors, their blood and their tears is soaked deeply in the soil and it is important that the whole country understands that we have our own root.”

Minister Baptiste, who, since being elected to office four years ago, has been making an effort to rekindle elements of the Garifuna heritage, noted the importance of culture as a means of transmitting information. 

“In this new age we transfer cultural knowledge through the arts and the first way that I know is to dance and to listen to the beat of the drums because the beat of the drums translates the language, the heart and the soul of a people and a culture.

She made it a point that SVG is the first home of all Garifuna, including those in the diaspora. 

“I want you to feel that this is not your third home but your first home. And where you walk is like walking at home. I have had the privilege and honour to welcome Garifuna from Belize and Guatemala. And it is always emotional for me particularly…. Because I am driven to help our people to understand the truth of their history; and our blood is your blood, your blood is our blood -- the blood of our ancestor, the lineage, the heritage; and when you are here, dance with the joy of your heart, dance with the sorrow of your souls but make SVG understand the culture of the Garifuna.”

The members of the group, asked to introduce themselves, chorused in song as their vented their pent up emotions. 

Although the Vincentians at the function could not understand the words of the Garifuna rendition, one word “Yurumein” -- Garifuna for St. Vincent and the Grenadines -- needed no translation. 

The ceremony also heard an address from Minister of Education, Youth and Spots Michael Browne. 

On Friday, as a preview to a show later that day and the following, the group staged a “Heritage School Rally”. The Honduran Garifunas on Saturday took part in a pilgrimage to Balliceaux, a small cay north-east of the Grenadine island of Bequia where thousand of Garifuna were taken and left to die.

The pilgrimage is dubbed “A journey of spiritual remembrance” and is intended to pay tribute to who died in that atrocity.

Today, Monday March 14, will see the staging of the wreath-laying ceremony at the obelisk on Dorsetshire Hill, overlaying Kingstown, where it was believed that Chatoyer was ambushed and killed. 

Several other rallies will be held across the nation in celebration of National Hero’s Day. The largest of these rallies is expected to be the one organised by the Ministry of Culture at Heritage Square in Kingstown 

It is estimated that 400,000 Garifuna live in the diaspora. From Rotan, the Garifuna people settled in other parts of Central America where they now reside. 

The Garifuna people in St. Vincent live on the northern-most windward parts of the islands. Local historians believe that this is so because European colonisers sought to drive them as far away as possible from the calm beaches, good agricultural lands and “civilization” in general. 

See also “Honduras Garifuna returns ‘home’ to St Vincent" – Caribbean Net News - Monday, March 7, 2005

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