"Lánigiü Müa" (Heart of the Earth): Garífuna Artistic Group

. Garífuna artists of Lánigiü Müa perform a theatrical ceremony, "The Dance with the Spirits." Photo credit: Drew Irwin. Lánigiü Müa is a Garífuna artistic group, which is the fruit of a threefold collaboration. First are the Garífuna artists and groups, who live in the Gulf of Tela, along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Particular support comes from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz and its surrounding villages. These peoples maintain an understanding of how their songs, dances, and other artistic traditions are authentic expressions that have characterized their culture over the years. Secondly, Lánigiü Müa is the result of an initiative taken by Honduran theater director, Rafael Murillo Selva. Much of Dr. Selva’s professional work has focused on the Garífuna culture. It was his vision to collaborate with Garífuna artists and produce, "La danza con las almas" (The Dance with the Spirits). This is a theatrical ceremony, which captures the principal elements of ancestral worship found in the dugü ritual. Dugü is a Garífuna ceremony typically used to cure the ill, to remedy spiritual problems often caused by offended ancestors, and to assure the dead ascend to heaven. Lastly, Lánigiü Müa has flourished thanks to support from the Honduran Institute of Tourism. The Institute has sponsored "The Dance with the Spirits" as part of a mega-tourism project currently in progress in the Gulf of Tela. The aim is that Garífuna communities may actively participate in this project through the display of their cultural expressions. Lánigiü Müa, therefore, is a mix of traditional artists and contemporary vision, direction, and organization. Within this structure, Garífuna singers, musicians, dancers, and drummers have enriched world culture by sharing their artistic heritage and cosmovision. Lánigiü Müa has participated in diverse artistic events at both the national and international levels. They have performed in Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Continue! Hear an inside perspective of how Lánigiü Müa got started. Discover why at first, many Garífuna community members boycotted "The Dance with the Spirits." Read more about the sacred dugü ceremony from Fabian and Sebastian Cayetano of Garífuna World.

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Credit: InCorpore Cultural Association©. All rights reserved. Revision and Translation by K.Stevens; Stanford Center for Latin American Studies; 1/17/00. Bibliography: Lánigiü Müa. La danza con las almas. Instituto Hondureño de Turismo, Ministerio de Cultura y las Artes. Programa de mano. (sf.).