GARIFUNA SPIRITUALITY
(text contributed by Roy Cayetano, Lucia Ellis)
The fundamental principle that underpins the Garifuna world view, Garifuna Culture and the way we see and live in the world, is “Au bun, Amürü nu (I for you and you for me)”. Garifuna spirituality is about the establishment or the maintenance of harmony with the environment.
The Dabuyaba
The Dabuyaba is the place where the dügü and other ceremonies having to do with Garifuna spirituality take place. It is not a church, nor is it a temple, nor is it a mosque, even though it may have some features in common. It is a dabuyaba.
The dabuyaba usually has an east west orientation where practical with the principal entrance towards the sea or a waterway. This no doubt has to do with the east as the place where the sun rises and the dawn breaks as well as the sea as the place whence people and the spirits arrive.
The dabuyaba has three principal sections:
a. The dibasei: this is like a vestibule or patio located at the main entrance. It invariably has benches for relaxation and may accommodate hammocks for that purpose.
b. The gayunari: This is the main hall of the dabuyaba, akin to the nave of a church but without pews. This is where the extended family and other participants congregate for the public aspects of the dügü, chugú or other ceremonies. It is rectangular in shape with benches along all four walls and usually four doors including the main entrance at the dibasei in the east which leads to the guli at the opposite end and one at the middle of each of the long sides. Participants usually hang hammocks from the beams since the majority are accommodated here for the duration of the activity which may last several days, and a tepesku, a place where large containers like pans with cassava bread can be stored just under the roof. The gayunari is perceived as a microcosm of the earth and each door representing one of the cardinal points, with the main entrance as the East and the door to the guli as the West.
The guli: this, in some ways, is like the sacristy in a church and is located in the western end of the dabuyaba across from the dibasei. The guli is less open to the public although individuals and groups do enter for specific purposes. It is often divided into smaller rooms including an altar with statues, pictures, candles and ina. the roosters and the strong rum in bottles with cotton as stoppers.
b. Ámalihani (malí) – Several of these are done during the course of the dügü and each is dedicated to specific ancestors whose names are invariably called prior to its commencement. The malí is the ceremony within the dügü that heals. This is so because it affirms úarani (oneness) by bringing time and space into one focal point. Here the three drums, which represent future, present and past life, move around the gayunari bringing the four cardinal points as well as the heights and nadir to the center in the present, i.e., the here and how. This symbolizes the effort to bring the entire kin group, including the unborn, the living and the ancestors into one, and reestablishing the harmony that was disrupted by the discord and failures that made this dügü necessary in the first place.
c. Dagagüdaü/achuguhani – This is the laying out of the food or the feeding. The kitchen and the cooks are busy working hard throughout the duration of the dügü as they are responsible for catering to all the participants but they are more so starting early on the day after the abelagüdáhani when, in addition to cooking for the participants, they also have to prepare an especially large amount and variety of food to be set out for the áhari. The participants take turns setting food on a long table prepared for that purpose in the gayunari. Participants may also prepare their own offerings to bring from their own kitchens at home to offer to their ancestral dead.
OTHER RITUALS:
Rituals are an essential form of the social life. Some of the situations that make rituals necessary include sickness, disease, accident, bad luck, stress and trauma. The rituals fall into categories such as: homecoming, re-enactment and healing/cleansing. Healing/cleansing ritual is designed to meet the individual needs.
Rites of Passage – The term ‘rites of passage’ is related to a community providing the appropriate education, knowledge and skills necessary for the successful development of its members, through rituals. Life rituals are related to time and situation, as the framework for understanding the place of ritual in traditional community at different phases in their lives. Garinagu believe that each person has a gift to bring and a role to play in their family, clan and community.
Youth – Puberty initiation (rites) are informal in the Garifuna culture and mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. During this stage, children learn about:
· Their society and the extended family, especially since they are more mobile and can carry out errands and perform chores with the extended family, on behalf of the adults. Identifying medicines and cultural survival practices such as food preparation, fishing, hunting, gardening and spirituality are also transmitted during this stage.
· Good manners at home and away from home
· Providing leadership examples for the childhood age group below them and being responsible to the age group above them
The traditional gunjei dance is the Garifuna culture’s way of highlighting these roles of males and females.
Marriage: traditional marriage was seen as an alliance between families and persons. There are provisions made within the culture to upload its stability. Father Amadeo Bonilla of Honduras describes a Garifuna marriage ritual, known as tatuniwa waritagu, – ‘the drinking of coffee’. “In this ritual, the couple and their parents are brought together. Extended family members and an older person, who is respected for his/her wisdom, joins the ceremony. The ceremony started with the elder seated next to an empty chair. The woman’s parents brought her to the man. They ‘gave’ her to him. When she sat next to him those in attendance acknowledged the coming together by drinking coffee”.
It is very important to note that, the family and community played a key role in maintaining the stability of the marriage. The accountability of families associated with the marriage was also a key factor. In some cultures, men retain close ties to their natal households. Also, the wife’s mother is expected to treat her daughter’s husband as if he were her own son. The couple is also expected to be aware of their responsibility to the community.
Compared to the 1930s, cross-cultural (mixed) marriages are now accepted. There was a time when it was not. Father Marin married a couple that consisted of a Garifuna female and a Creole male. He was taken to court by the Creole family for performing that marriage. He won the case. When one recognizes marriage to be a sacred alliance between families, the challenge for culture is ‘how to heal the sacred space following a divorce or separation’?
Death (Transition): In the Garifuna culture, death (transformation) is considered to be initiation into another stage of existence (ancestor). It is critical that is done using the appropriate protocols given the importance of ancestral veneration to the Garinagu. All Garinagu pray for a good death “Oweni Buiti”. In his book, the Garifuna Understanding of Death, Canon Jerris Valentine wrote the following about the death rites:
“Funeral rites include practical aspects of preparing the body for burial. There is grief and the social loss caused by the death. The wake takes place the night before the burial and the Beluria. Traditionally, the Beluria is held nine days after the death of an elderly person who has been ailing. But, for sudden death, from an accident or murder, the Beluria is held at a mimimum one year. Given the instability of the dispersed family, throughtout the Diaspora, the time of scheduling of Beluria is dependent on availability of resources and schedules of key family members.”
Earlier, reference was made to the belief of the Garifuna indebtedness/ ‘aduehian’ of the individual and the community of the ancestors.
