Activities in Belize: September Celebrations & The Annual Belize Carnival Road March

We have two Carnival seasons – the traditional Carnival just prior to the Lenten Season like in so many Latin countries, and the Independence Day carnival held in September during the national day celebrations month.

While the traditional Easter season carnival is celebrated in Latino areas of the country such as Corozal and San Pedro Ambergris Caye, the September event is Creole themed. Due to government patronage during the Independence Day month, it is this carnival road march celebrated in Belize City that has become the dominant event of its genre in our country.

Historian, researcher and former Chief Librarian Lawrence Vernon recently looked at the roots of the Belize City Carnival in a local newspaper article:

“It was in 1975 when a few parents put their children in costumes and this was an effort to liven up the tenth of September which was sort of a drab affair with parades. And so to liven up the September celebrations really, these parents saw the need to dress up their children in costumes and let them parade in the streets for a few hours.

“These were encouraged, I think first of all by Henry Young, from the Committee of Forty (a local group that promotes the battle of St. George’s Caye) and Soli Arguelles (a local florist and dance company director). They were sort of pioneers in bringing carnival to the streets.”

Belize City being the home of the largest concentration of Creoles in the country, it goes that this Carnival has borrowed most of its influences from the Afro-Caribbean culture, and this is due in part to many Belizeans attending university in Jamaica and Trinidad.

〜　セプテンバーセレブレーション　〜　スペイン戦記念日、独立記念日＆カーニバル

９月はカーニバルシーズン！いくつかのグループ／チームに別れて参加者は衣装で派手に着飾り、振り付けの激しいダンスで自分のチームの優勝を争います。ベリーズシティーを６時間近く（約４km）かけてパレードの様な列になって踊り回る。その周りで現地の人々がベリーズ中から集まりサポートする。暑さにも負けず（雨にも負けず！）、最後まで華やかに演出するダンサー達はベリーズ人の力強さと、クレオール文化の誇りを感じ取り、観れる一大イベントです！