Gales Point Manatee is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Belize District Belize is a district of the nation of Belize. Its capital is Belize City. Geography Most of the Belize District is in the east central mainland of Belize; the Belize District also includes various offshore islands, including Ambergris Caye ...

in the nation of

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. The village is bordered by five other communities, namely

Mullins River Mullins River is the name of both a river and of a village on that river in the Stann Creek District of Belize. The village of Mullins River is located at the mouth of the river of the same name on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, north of Dangr ...

, St. Margaret, La Democracia, Gracie Rock, and Freetown Sibun. The village is bordered east by the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. In 2000, Gales Point had a population of about 500 people, most of whom subsist on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Most recently, in 2010, the population was placed at 296. Gales Point Manatee or Malanti is the local name for the village. The majority of the village’s population lives on a peninsula located in the Southern Lagoon, which is a manatee reserve. The Southern Lagoon's water is brackish. This lagoon connects directly to the

through the Manatee Bar River. It also has of wildlife reserve known as the Gales Point Wild Life Sanctuary.

Demographics

At the time of the 2010 census, Gales Point had a population of 297. Of these, 89.2% were Creole, 6.1% Mixed, 2.4% East Indian, 0.7%

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

, 0.7%

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language. The Garifuna ...

and 0.3%

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

. Population & Housing Census 201

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History

Ritamae Hyd
(2009)
recently established that, based on (textual and oral) evidence, Gales Point Manatee was an early maroon community, a settlement made by persons who resisted enslavement by fleeing the control of the colonial authorities and "slave masters" to live in self-sufficient communities in the hinterlands. It is believed that Gale's Point became one of such communities where "ex-enslaved" persons from "nearby areas such as Sibun River, Runaway Creek, Mullins River and Main River" established around the late 1700s and early 1800s (Hyde: 2009, p. 13, 16). Colonial knowledge of maroonage in British Honduras dates to 1816 when Superintendent Col. George Arthur recorded that there was "a community 'near Shiboon River, very difficult to discover'" outside the influence of the colonial authorities (quoted in Shoman: 2000, 51). In 1820, Arthur again made reference to "two Slave Towns, which it appears have been long formed in the Blue Mountains to the Northward of Sibun" (ibid). In around 1944, Gales Point became the first village in Belize to have a village council. Nurse Cleopatra White, first nurse in the village, recognized the need for managing village affairs and organized a council. Her idea later became the model for the current village council system which has been implemented throughout the country.

Culture

Due to the geographic isolation of Gales Point Manatee from the rest of the country, some traditional African practices continue to be observable (see Iyo, et al. 2007; Hyde: 2009).

Food and drinks

Like many West African cultures, the people of Manatee were traditionally reliant on ground food and other locally planted crops for subsistence. Fishing and hunting were also a much greater source of food for the community. For example, fish seré is a dish which is essentially a coconut-milk soup of fish and ground foods (yam, coco, potato, etc.). It may also be served along with white rice. The people at Manatee are also well known for their homemade wines from local berries and cashews, amongst others fruits.

Sambai

The origin of the word Sambai is not fully known, but Sambai refers to the rhythm style, drum style and event from the village of Gales Point Manatee. The Sambai rhythm is the most unusual aspect of Kriol culture from Manatee (taken fro
National Kriol Council
. It is theorized that since the escaped slaves, or maroons, were likely first generation slaves, they probably remembered rituals and rhythms from their home in Africa. Since the Goombay (gumbeh) drum was not outlawed until 1790, it's easy to say that these rhythms were brought with these escaped slaves to the area near Runaway Creek. It is likely that the rhythms migrated from their origins as the people themselves did carrying with them the flowing and mutating rhythmic dialects of their own style, still strongly rooted in Africa. The Sambai is by tradition considered a fertility dance and occurs during the full moon cycle. Farmers plant and harvest crops directly related to lunar cycles as well and this may contribute to the reason that the Sambai is considered a fertility ritual. Also, many lyrics are sexual in nature such as: "Hok-i-nani-beh…here here ….hok-i-nani-beh…koko faiya." In recent times the Sambai has developed into simply a social event and is no more a fertility ritual. It is done along with most other nighttime activities involving other dances. Elders remember the days when children were not allowed to participate in the Sambai. Although children are allowed to be at a Sambai now the event has not changed much since the old days. A circle of dancers and drummers gather around a pine wood fire. Drummers begin playing and "call" the song then the crowd answers. This "call and response" style is typical of the African tradition. For example: Call: "Aanti Kala Kala Kalala sohnting so" Response: "Aanti noh badi mi". The dancers enter one at a time and "Jump Sambai" as it is referred to. When the individual exits the ring he or she chooses the next dancer by pointing to or "reeling in" with a gesture or simply exits next to the person they are calling in. Often subtle courtships were explored as individuals frequently choose the candidate of their pursuit for the evening. If the person was interested they would return the gesture by choosing back the potential partner. If the person was not interested in the courtship then the discrete lack of reciprocation would be noticed only by the pursuer of the courtship.

Story telling

Storytelling has always been an important form of entertainment in the village. The introductions always started with a bizarre exaggeration to make the crowd laugh such as "Back in the day when monkey use to chew tobacco" and ended with the classic Creole line "if the pin neva ben, di story neva end". Some of the stories are long and have morals that can only be captured if one pays keen attention. The story may also change according to the mood of the teller. For example, the storyteller mentioned or integrated

Hurricane Richard Hurricane Richard was a damaging tropical cyclone that affected areas of Central America in October 2010. It developed on October 20 from an Low-pressure area, area of low pressure that had stalled in the Caribbean Sea. The system moved ...

in two of the stories, making the audience laugh at a recent disaster that affected the community.

Outside influences

It is important to recognize that culture is always in a process of change due to both internal and external occurrences and influences. Gales Point is not in total isolation or unaffected by the broader Belizean cultural lifestyles and 'Western culture'. Many things have changed in the community. For example, the Sambai is no longer the same. There are more children participating in the dance than actual adults. In the past, no children were allowed to do the Sambai. People now live in concrete houses as opposed to thatched houses in the past. Processed and canned foods are available in the village. There is a local Christian church.

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

, or at least the growing of 'locks', is now quite common among the youth (for discussion on Rastafari in Belize, see Lawrence: 2012). These modern influences at the same time have benefited the community. For example, they now have access to electricity and water. There is little economic activity occurring in the village which leads people to migrate out of the community. Many persons hope that increase tourist arrivals will increase the economic activities of the community and decrease outward migration.

Tourism

The village of Gales Point has some

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, mostly for those interested in seeing the rich

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

of the area, including a large

West Indian manatee The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the Eastern United States to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it ...

population. It is also possible to camp at Methos Campsite near the end of the point. At the end of the point is a lodge called Manatee Lodge, which offers hikes, manatee spotting trips, and snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea at nearby islands and cayes.

References

Bibliography

* Bolland, Nigel. Colonialism and Resistance in Belize: Essays in Historical Sociology. 1988. Mexico: Cubola, 2003. Print. * Cocom, Rolando. (2014)
I mi gawn da malanti: Reflections from a field-trip at Gales Point Manatee
. Belizean Minds Blogspot. Web Article. * Hyde, Ritamae
"Stoan Baas" people: An Ethnohistorical study of the Gales Point Manatee community of Belize
The University of the West Indies, 2009.
"Stoan Baas" people: An Ethnohistorical study of the Gales Point Manatee community of Belize
Journal of Belizean Studies 31.2 (2012). * Iyo, Aondofe.
Flight from enslavement in the Bay of Honduras to Freedom in Petén, Guatemala: Preliminary Findings
" Belize Archeology and Anthropology Conference. 2012. * Iyo, Aondofe, Tzalam Froyla, and Francis Humphreys. Belize New Vision: African and Maya Civilizations, Heritage of a New Nation. Belize: Factory Books, 2007. Print. * Iyo, Joseph. Towards Understanding Belize's Multi-Cultural History and Identity. Belize: University of Belize, 2000. Print. * Lawrence, V. (2012). Dreadlock displaced: Stereotyping Rastafarians in Belize Journal of Belizean Studies, 31(2).

External links

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030802111712/http://www.belizedistrict.com/tosee_gp.html , date=2003-08-02 Populated places in Belize District Belize Rural Central