Pearl Lagoon festivities

On Good Friday mass is celebrated in the afternoon and sometimes representations of the death of Jesus are staged. For this mass the parishioners usually dress in black, purple or white, as a way of honoring the death of Jesus. After the mass, which ends at around 04:00 in the afternoon, there is a meal that always includes fish, shellfish and syrup, in addition to the traditional bun (sweet bread).

It is also customary to visit relatives and friends, who usually offer such delicacies.

May pole party

May pole party (palo de mayo): takes place over 18 days spread over the month of May.

Harvest Festival: This religious tradition is celebrated in November in the various Moravian, Anglican and Baptist churches. The parishioners bring to the church the best products of their harvest or of their own elaboration: fruits, vegetables, baked goods, clothes, crafts, crafts, etc., as a token of appreciation for the blessings received during the year.

It is customary to decorate churches with the products of the land: palms, canes, coconuts, bananas, among others. The production is blessed at mass and the next day, starting at 05:00 in the morning, it is put on sale on the church grounds.

Set up (wakes): This is the name given to the set of Creole funeral traditions and rites. It consists of traditional activities to ensure the preparation of the corpse, the candle, the songs, the funeral procession, the funeral, the mourning and the nine days. Each of these steps has a special meaning.

Solidarity and mutual respect are central elements highlighted and yearned for by the cultural bearers of tradition. The traditional set up is also called nine night.

It is celebrated on the ninth day and ends the funeral rites. At 12 pm there is a celebration in the room where the deceased was called "Turn up the matres" which consists of lifting the mattress and turning it over. As two women sing, they take the white sheets and fold them, take off the covers and curtains and fold them. Everything is placed in the center of the bed.

Commemoration of the arrival of the Garífunas in Nicaragua: The Garífuna peoples of Nicaragua celebrate the National Day of Garífuna Culture on November 19. It is celebrated with traditional dances, games, gastronomic fairs, exhibitions and musical concerts. In the Orinoco community, in the Laguna de Perlas, Garífuna cradle, the celebrations begin from early in the morning until late at night.

Commemoration of the arrival of the Garífunas in Nicaragua

Walagallo (Garifuna people): is a healing ritual. The walagallo or dance of roosters is a rite practiced by the Garífunas of Nicaragua, known as dugu by the Garífunas of Honduras and Belize. In most cases, the central objective of this rite is the healing of a seriously ill person with a great possibility of dying when possessed by a gubida or ancestral spirit.

Longer life span is what the walagallo seeks, either because the sick person is cured and with it the change of a deviant behavior after appeasing the ancestor. If the walagallo fails to heal the sick and death appears on the scene, the performance of the ritual achieves for the sick a death in good law, a death full of meaning in the sociocultural sphere of the ethnic group.

The drums, singing and dancing will expel the evil spirits and will obtain the healing of the sick and the regeneration of the ethnic group. The hamalijani dance is the center of the walagallo rite. Hamalijani or mali means to appease, to appease. It could be translated as “we appease the dead relatives”.