During the Christmas and New Year holidays, the Belizean Garifuna people practice an important social ritual. The John Canoe Festival, also known as the Habinahan Wanaragua Jankunu Festival, is a traditional Garifuna dance festival that features veiled and costumed performers parading the streets and moving from one house to another to the rhythm of drummers. The festival takes place in Dangriga, where Garifuna drummers and performers from all around Belize gather for a dance battle.
The dancers’ extraordinary and vibrant costumes are maybe the most remarkable aspect about them. According to oral tradition, the costumes began when Garifuna men deceived British invaders on the island of St. Vincent. The British troops were startled by men disguised as ladies, who had assumed that the men would be gone from their cities.
The crown is mostly constructed of cardboard, but it is decorated with colored paper, strips, mirrors, feathers, and shells that have been designed. The artists’ heads are encased in gorgeous garment textures, and their faces are veiled in painted white or pink coverings, which is widely assumed to be a sneering reference to the British.
Artists dress in either a ladies’ gown or strips that resemble one. The cross strips are also considered to be reminiscent of British military regalia’s cross weapon belts. The dance is enhanced with shells attached to the knees. The shells rattle and tremble to highlight the Primero and Segundo drums’ call and pounding.