Garifuna Settlement Day Celebration is November 19, an annual holiday celebrated in the country of Belize. On this day, the arrival of the first Garinagu to Belize by dory (dug-out canoe) is celebrated by all Garifuna communities at home and abroad.
Garifuna Settlement Day is celebrated for a whole week including parades, live music, drumming, dancing, prayers, Garifuna mass and election of Miss Garifuna take place to mark the anniversary. In communities like Dangriga and Punta Gorda, a dory symbolizing the arrival of the first Garinagu, is floating to shore around early morning dawn while local Garinagu women dressed in their colorful costumes.
There have been celebrations all week long in Belize, Los Angeles and other states.
Since 1943 November 19th has been a public holiday in the Stan Creek and Toledo districts called Garifuna Settlement Day. From 1977 November 19th has been a county wide public holiday.
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