Garifuna Gubida, Beluria, Dügü, Buyei & Spirituali-gctid28073

[Oju]

Garifuna Gubida, Beluria, Dügü, Buyei and Spiritualism


The Garifuna has always practiced spiritualism. It is believed that the life of the Garifuna revolves around their spiritual tenets, belief in the power of the spirits of their ancestors. Traditionally, Garinagu relied on the spirits of their ancestor to guide them in their day-to-day activities. This practice is believed to have kept the Garifuna family united as a race. One of the characteristics of their ancestral worship is universality. This phenomenon is evident in the ritual of the "Dugu". The songs and chanting used to evoke the spirits of the ancestors in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua are the same.

In St. Vincent eleven Garifuna villages were autonomous under the leadership of a chief who was a "buyei", a chosen spiritual leader and healer. In times of war final decisions were made only after all the chiefs had consulted their spirit helpers, "Hiyuruha" in a special ceremony known to the Garifuna as "Areiraguagüdüni". This is one of the Garifuna spiritual practices that has accounted for Garifuna solidarity in the face of suppression. There is never a time that a buyei is not chosen by the ancestral spirits to lead and minister to the people when the need arises.

Stories of spiritual guidance and mysterious occurrences abound. Once in the village of Seine Bight a farmer accompanied only by his dog suffered a terrible cut while building a dory. Having bled profusely, the farmer became helpless and motionless. The village Buyei having received the message from his spiritual helpers immediately alerted the wife and family of the injured man. Men from the village quickly traveled to the forest and rescued the dory builder and saved his life.


* By Benjamin Palacio *


The Garinagu are peace-loving people. Any name-calling, cursing and gossip are seen as an act of aggression. Serious social infringements are referred to during religious rituals, and the dead ancestors may call upon the guilty one to confront him or her.
Gubida are spirits of ancestors who are contacted through the use of Buyeis who also act as spirit helpers during a ceremony for the dead. They lead the song and dance offering rum to the dead and this culminates in a burial at sea.

Celebrations and ceremony are important in the Garifuna culture. The burial feast is known as "Beluria" and is a nine-day devotional ceremony to the Dead, which culminates in drumming, dancing and feasting. (Gonzalez, Levinson, 1998). Dubu is a ritual feast to appease the spirits after someone dies. This lasts two to four days and consists of much feasting on cassava bread, plantains, rice, beans, cheese and port wine. The Dugu is a religious ceremony in which a high priest, the Buyei, leads the contact with deceased relatives. The purpose is to appeal to ancestors for help in resolving some family problem. The ancestral Spirit communicates with his people during an Owehani (Equivalent to the Pentecost). There are drummers, summoned by the Buyei and Gayunited snakes (singers) and fishermen to gather seafood. Many days of preparation are need.

There are reports that rituals such as the Dugu have reinforced the cultural unity and spiritual beliefs of the Garinagu. When celebrated with the entire village, friends and relatives come together. (Garinagu Life in Central America, Garifuna World). Health is determined by power wielded by ancestral spirits, traditional folk remedies, and "bush medicine." The Garifuna are accused of voodooism, polygamy, devil worship and other evil by the cultures in Honduras.

The religion of the Garifuna is a combination of Catholicism, Kmtyw and Indian beliefs. The rites of passage are celebrated: births, arrival of puberty, and death. These are traditionally celebrated by the community and include special music and songs. Work songs, hymns, lullabies, ballads and healing songs are popular. The Kmtyw influence is heard with complex drum rhythms and call-response patterns in songs. Holy days of the Catholic Church include processions, prayer, music, street dances and costumes.


Buyei Works at its peak Drumming

[media]http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/afburns/afrotrop/trialgar.wav[/media]

Beluria is also called a ninth night celebration. The community does not sever the lines of communication with the departed at or after death. The spirit may even contact a family member via dreams and request assistance from the living. The scenario, dubbed "the bathing of the dead" can happen anytime and requires immediate attention. Usually, those contacted dig a hole and simulate washing the body using a calabash to represent the deceased. Salt and fresh water, various herbs, and cassava water are poured into the hole and the spirit is addressed. The spirit may also call for a mass. During this form of transmission, friends and family hold a church mass and gather food offerings. Men and women then perform gender-specific dances for the deceased. Again, drums and music are integral parts of the summoning of the spirit world.


Garifuna Offering - Presided over by a Buyei or shaman




   Perhaps the most well known form of communication with the dead in the Garifuna culture is the dugu. In this unification ceremony, the extended families of a person gather to give thanks and promote the healing of an ailing member. When someone falls ill in a family, the high priest, or buyei, will inform the family if a dugu is warranted or not. Throughout the weeklong ceremony, offerings are made in hopes that those ill regain their strength. Singing and dancing to particular beats often hypnotize participants and send them into trance-like states that captivate onlookers and convince them that this activity should be performed by trained personnel only!

Again, the community involvement astounds those cultivated in more reserved cultures where death is a personal grievance shared by only one family. The encouragement by the Garifuna culture for all to join in the dancing, drinking, drumming, singing and merriment creates a familiar atmosphere intoxicating to visitors once wary of being dubbed "stranger."

http://www.seinebight.com/

[Oju]

AFRO TROPICAL
PRESENTS
 
 
 
THE DUGU

With Special Guest Appearance By
ANANSE'S Wife





Enter the Dugu




   The culture of the Garifuna is a system of traditional and typical West Kmtyw cultural expression fused with Amerindian customs and subsistence bases. This infrastructure of dance, drum and ancestor worship through ritual is no clearer defined than through the elaborate funeral rites associated with Garifuna culture. Our presentation was a visual synopsis of the Dugu. Here we will outline in detail the rites of death, the most important and sacred cultural expression of the Garifuna.

   Funeral Ceremonies of the Garifuna begin after the gathering of family and friends at nightfall. Women, children and men participate in their respective roles throughout the night until early morning. The men create a sacred space by making tent like roofs out of their canoe sails and afterwards, they play card games, tell traditional tales such as Ananse and enjoy song and dance. Along with the traditional dances, like the Punta and circle dances, the younger children play many games. Throughout, food is served to family and close friends as well as beverages made of rum and local roots.

Outside of the immediate area the older women gather around the coffin and begin their nightlong vigil of prayer. Everyone stays till dawn because it is said that, "Anyone leaving before that time may excite the wrath of the dead and be exposed to his revenge"(Coelho pg. 174). In accordance with the Garifuna's incredible ability to adapt to the surroundings, they have incorporated Catholicism into the rite. On the morning after the wake, the body is carried to a church where customary masses and rites are preformed. The body is then buried according to Catholic rite.

  The Garifuna observe a Nine-Night Wake in which the wake procedures are repeated for nine days following the death. It begins on a day so that the ninth night falls on a Saturday. This is considered the family's final farewell to the spiritual double or ahari of the dead who is believed to remain in the house after the burial. It is only now that her/his trip to the other world begins. Candles are lit, prayers are repeated and, especially regarding the Black Caribs, the wishes of the ahari are carefully attended.

 The favorite things of the spirit and fresh water are placed allover the altar to further satisfy the wishes.About six months later a further process of helping the ahari to its ascendancy is preformed. The immediate family does Amuiedahani or the bathing of the soul, usually the spouse and children, because the spirit has become weary and is in need of refreshment and strength to continue. The males dig a pit in the deceased's bedroom and water for the bath is prepared from herbs and leaves into which small half-baked cassava bread is dissolved. It is a short ceremony that begins with religious songs. The eldest member fills a gourd with the water and throws it into the pit saying, "Here this is for your bath"(Coelho pg. 177). Everyone then follows according to age.

  A full year after the death Dugu or Feasting the Dead is held in attempt to please the departed spirits who are believed to not be in peace. It usually consists of a feast given to the deified ancestors by the extended family. However, this is usually not preformed until the family members experience nightmares or domestic accidents or when the family's means of subsistence are threatened and all other remedies have failed. A priest or buiai is then brought to communicate with the ancestral spirits with the help of his messengers (hiuruhu) to arrive at the appropriate ceremony.

Traditionally, the family gathers and the rites are held in the village where the lineage originated. The heart of the Dugu is a small mound of earth (dabuyaba) built on the floor of the house set apart for the ritual. It is suppose to attract and hold the spirits, who are mystically bound to the earth the once tread upon. The ritual is a whole week of activities, dancing, chanting and food sharing. The most sacred part of the Dugu is the mali or amalihani a dance led by the buiai and the drummers. During the mali, the placating of the spirits of the ancestors takes place. The congrgation forms behind the buiai who faces the drummers as they all move in a counter clock-wise direction around the dabuyaba halting position to mark the four cardinal points. These motions signify the directions from which power is drawn and in which the spirits may reside. Each mali is dedicated to an ancestral spirit. Normally some dancers enter into trance signifying that the ancestors have arrived at the ceremony.

 The ritual progresses throughout the mornings, when they go to the sea to collect shellfish and the favorite dishes of the ancestors. Upon return, they dress and attend a requiem mass. The candles from the mass are taken back to continue the rites. There follows three more rites: Arairaguni- calling down the spirit; Guibida- attempts to please the spirits; Abaiuhani- allows the children to get aquatinted with the spirits. The final rite is the serving of the hot specialty dishes relished by the ancestors. They are presented to the spirits and songs are sung. After it is thought the spirits have begun to consume, everyone else partakes.

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/afburns/afrotrop/afro1.htm

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Oju!!!

I see you've gotten the art of "capcha" down! Good to hear the music! I look forward to the building of your webpage! I'm sure it'll be off the chain!!! Meda ase for the info about the Garifuna! This is becoming THE source of information on Kmtyw spirituality throughout the Kmtyw world!!!

Stay BlackNificent!!!

Obadele

[Oju]

[ch390 wrote: kyeame Kwame]Oju!!!

I see you've gotten the art of "capcha" down! Good to hear the music! I look forward to the building of your webpage! I'm sure it'll be off the chain!!! Meda ase for the info about the Garifuna! This is becoming THE source of information on Kmtyw spirituality throughout the Kmtyw world!!!

Stay BlackNificent!!!

Obadele

Greetings!

Yes, I managed to do the capturing! lol Wait until, I tell you how I managed
with your wonderful and very informative tutorial.

The music of the Garifuna people is exquisit as well as their history and culture. Our ancestors are surely giving them the strength and endurance to resist their oppressors.

They have so little but they do so much with what they have never for a minute forgetting their Kmtyw history and culture. They make us proud. I have so much on them, it's just figuring out which forum to put what part of the history.

No thanks is necessary Asafo to do the work for our people.

"This is becoming THE source of information on Kmtyw spirituality throughout the Kmtyw world!!!" I like the sound of that, it brings music to my ears! We aim to please the spirit of the Kmtyw and all our Ancestors.

Let's continue to sing praises to our Ancestors for making us part of a proud and culturally spiritual people! ........................
                        ........................

Peace!

[Awotunde]

Great info Sister Oju

I am always glad to see our spirituality re-validated when showing that We never stopped being Kmtyw in many places. Many Kmtyws have fallen prey to the defeatest attitude that "We have LOST our culture." That could not be further from the truth as many of us here know. At the same time there are many within our traditions who sleep on this fact. I say they are culturally stagnant in that they have the part of the culture they practice with almost total neglect towards the international validity of Kmtyw traditions - of course these traditions being for Kmtyw PEOPLE ONLY.

Oda

[Oju]

Awotunde wrote: Great info Sister Oju

I am always glad to see our spirituality re-validated when showing that We never stopped being Kmtyw in many places. Many Kmtyws have fallen prey to the defeatest attitude that "We have LOST our culture." That could not be further from the truth as many of us here know. At the same time there are many within our traditions who sleep on this fact. I say they are culturally stagnant in that they have the part of the culture they practice with almost total neglect towards the international validity of Kmtyw traditions - of course these traditions being for Kmtyw PEOPLE ONLY.

Oda

Greetings & Akwaaba Baba Awotunde!

Our Liberation front here at AKALI has been blessed with your presence. Baba Awotunde you speak nothing but the truth. Our people have to realize that as Kmtyws we have to be the one to re-validate the Sacred Spiritual Traditions and history of our people.  We have to let the world know that what our Ancestors has passed down from generation to generation is the most sacred of all, simply because that Kmtyw Ase' was being passed as well from our direct source.

Nothing rings more true than by Kmtyws for Kmtyws. It is with that knowledge and firm understanding that as a practioner of our sacred spiritual traditions, that I make a conscious effort to not only talk the talk but at the same time practice with liberation of all our peope in mind. None of us should be sleeping on the fact that at any given time or moment we have to be able to defend with utmost respect and international validity that which was given to us for our upliftment and total liberation. We have to be proud to be Kmtyw, and not be hiding in the shadows of Eurocentric customs and deceptions that someone has made up to look like Kmtyw tradition. The madness has to be stopped and it rests with each and everyone one of us who say and know that we are true defenders and liberators of our people.

Much appreciation to you Baba Awotunde for your valuable input on this most important issue and for being willing to be on the frontline to guide our people in the right direction.

Peace & Blessings of Kmtyw Love Always!
Oyu

[Awotunde]

e se pupo Oju

[Oju]

Chatuye




Chatuye play original Garifuna (pronounced "ga-Rif-una") drum and percussion music from Belize, Hondorus, and Guatemala. Since their inception in 1981 Chatuye has had eight different permutations including approximately 40 members. Many move back and forth from Belize and Los Angeles (where the band is currently based).

The Garifuna people are also known as Garinagu (plural), Caribs, Black Caribs, or Black Carib Indians. Their heritage is a blend of Kmtyw and Caribbean Indian. Garifuna is also the name of their language. The Garinagu are said to be descendents of shipwrecked Kmtyws newly arrived in the New World as slaves more than 400 years ago.

Though Chatuye is currently based in the U.S., the music they play is true to their Garifuna heritage mesmerizing audiences with their vibrant Caribbean drumming (somewhat akin to Haitian music), turtle shell percussion, and uninhibited singing style.

The Kmtyw Music Encyclopedia

http://www.Kmtywmusic.org

[Awotunde]

OJU

I am wlays impressed by your research! E  ku se.