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| Nets used by Garifuna fisherman in their sacred voyages to the sea. Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras. Photo credit: Drew Irwin. | ||
Staff Writer, Honduras This Week
Spirits of the Sea
Because the Garífuna are a fishing people, there are many beliefs centered around the sea. At the mouths of rivers, lagoons, and estuaries, Garífuna men performed ceremonies to the spirit of the sea to obtain fish. Failure to perform these ceremonies resulted in the spirit taking the fish away. Several spirits live in the areas where fresh and salt water meet. These include the man of the sea, duendes (a Garífuna nature spirit associated with water), and the water mafia, called buyubiyuti in Garífuna. Mafias are spirits of deceased persons who are stuck on earth like ghosts. Bad spirits are also attracted to this area. They include the Garífuna female spirit, the agayuma, and a small being known as the humero in Spanish.
Ceremonial Fishing
Garífuna men must fish for three days for the religious ceremony, dugü. If the spirits require it, they dive for lobster or conch. Men used to sing special songs while fishing. After fishing, the ceremonial fishermen collect products from the fields and forested areas. They are received by the whole family and the community with candles, drums, guaro, and songs on the beach. The fishermen not only brings food, but a child representing their ancestors. The Garífunas believe that the land of the ancestors is on the other side of the sea. When the dugü is over, the ancestors are sent their food by burying it on the beach or by throwing it into the sea.
A Soul's Voyage to Sea
The Garífunas also take ceremonial purification baths in the sea at the end of the dugü. This belief is also seen at the end of the ceremony for the deceased known as fin de novenario in Spanish. Like some African peoples and the Miskito Indians, the Garífunas believe that a person's soul is not ready to go to the land of their ancestors immediately after death. After a year has elapsed, the soul is now prepared for its journey. So, the Garífunas perform a ceremony in which a doll, representing the dead person, is placed in the sea. This gives the soul a start in the right direction, according to Garífuna beliefs.
Related links:
Robert Clother: Garífuna Fisherman. Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras. InCorpore Cultural Association.
Are Bay Island duppies part of the Mafia? (scroll down). Wendy Griffin. Honduras This Week, 12/16/97. Article on Garífuna mafia spirits.
Coastal parks threatened by commercial fishing. Wendy Griffin. Honduras This Week. The impact of commercial fishing on Garífuna ceremonial fisherman.
Dugü. Sebastian and Fabian Cayetano. Garifuna World. 1984.
Credit: Wendy Griffin. Excerpt from: Garifuna sacred areas lack adequate protection. Honduras This Week, 12/98. Revision by K.Stevens; Stanford Center for Latin American Studies; 4/12/00.