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     It was nearly 9 pm on Friday when Andy and I managed to sneak away and hit up Asha's Culture Kitchen, a quaint restaurant and bar down by the sea.  There were a few groups of diners there but the real reason we came--drumming.  Tonight a friend and an acquaintance were here (along with a little help from Andy) to whoo us with their high energy West African/Creole rhythms.  Emmeth Young and his friend Boombay, originally hale from Gales Point, Belize--a small lagoon-side village about 35 miles south of Belize City.  Gales Point is a creole village and Emmeth has been playing it's rhythms on various handmade drums ever since he was a young boy.  He's good; arguably one of the best drummers in Belize (and likely beyond).   Our friend Emmeth made his way down here with his family 2 years ago and has called the Punta Gorda area home ever since.

L to R:  Andy, Emmeth, and Boombay playing the rhythms

     I've had the privilege of hearing Emmeth play dozens of times over the past 13 months, many times he's played with my husband, some times solo, often times w/various tourists who'd like a "turn" at the drum, but what I remembered about Friday night is that the sound is taken to a whole new level when he plays with Boombay.  There's just an unmistakable energy when the sounds come rippling from the head of the drum when these two Belizean Creole men play together.  It's a sound that tugs at my inner core and gets me excited--here I am, sitting in an ocean side bar, in Southern Belize, listening to some of the most amazing, authentic drumming in the world.  That's pretty awesome.
     The interesting thing is that it's not just the drumming itself that I love so much.  And after it being some months since I'd last heard Emmeth and Boombay playing together, it suddenly dawned on me--it's the culture.  Emmeth doesn't just play the music, he owns it--the drums, the clothes, the food, the hair, the life style.  It's creole (with its West African undertones) right down to the core.
     One of my most favorite things about Belize is that it is a confetti mix of cultures here, yet not quite in the same way that the US is considered a melting pot.  Here, the people hold tight to the ways of their people, whether it be the Creoles, Garifunas, Mayans, Latinos, Indians, Mennonites or Chinese.  They all have their own foods, clothes, dress, and language.  In the small town of Punta Gorda alone, on any given day, one can find 8 different languages being spoken.

Garifuna girls dance and process with offertory gifts

     On the second Sunday of every month my church celebrates garifuna Mass.  It is bar none, my favorite time to attend mass here.  The Garifuna are a Black Carib people whose concentrations exist in just a handful of villages along the Central American Caribbean coast.  They too have their own clothing, language, food, and spirituality.  Somehow that culture is able to intertwine with Catholicism in a way that makes for a powerful and energizing Mass.  The drums beat and the choir sings and though I don't know the language myself, I feel moved when I sing along to their songs, I feel connected to both God and the people.  The entire congregation is united, pinkies clasped as we all sing and move to the words "Waguchi Bungiu, lidan sun fulasu,"  the first line of the Lord's Prayer--my all time favorite version of the Our Father ever. Though certainly not everyone in the congregation is a Garifuna, the ones that are can easily be spotted on Garifuna Sundays.  Sure many of them are wearing their traditional clothing, but it's more than that.  It's obvious to me when I observe them that they feel a certain connection and a pride as they recite the prayers and songs in Garifuna.  They move more passionately, they seem to listen more intently and it reverberates throughout the entire church.  The whole place just seems to feel more alive with the Spirit on those Sundays, and more connected to each other.
     It's that very same thing that gives Emmeth and Boombay a better sound I think--it's cultural identity.  Cultural pride is something that no one can take away from you--you'll always have it whether or not you are surrounded by others of the same culture.  It's always a part of someone and is a huge part of what makes people who they are (if they choose to hold on to it).  I love that about the people here.  The different cultures all co-exist and they all seem to thrive so well in Belize.  I suppose in some ways I am almost a bit envious of that.  I'm a typical American woman who is made up of such a varied mixture of backgrounds that I would say I have little, if any, cultural identity.  Most of all though, I enjoy seeing it alive in other people.  It's certainly one of the things that makes Belize so great and in some ways, I think it makes the melting pot of America pale in comparison.  Blending together can be a good thing but standing out, being a part of and belonging to something is what makes this such an amazing world we live in.  In a lot of ways, I think it's the heartbeat (or drum beat if you will) that beats in such a way that the the whole world can dance to the rhythm--from West Africa, to the Caribbean, to the Orient, to the highlands of South America--everyone is dancing to their unique dance.