It was a long weekend - full of devilish deeds of violence and anti-social behavior, but it wasn't all bad. It was the most event packed weekend of the September celebrations season - and our team was out there snagging highlights of a few major events - here they are:
Alfonso Noble reporting
The 9th. night fire engine parade, it’s something people still come out on their verandah to see, and it still inspires patriotism in young Belizeans who come out to experience the noise and the clatter as a family event.
The alacrity of the night gives way to formality in the morning at the memorial park when the official guests like the leader of the opposition, the chief justice, the prime minister and the governor general arrived. Sir Colville inspected a guard of honor.
That gave way to the official ceremonies where the mayor and president of the September celebrations committee said that the tenth is a divisive but meaningful celebration:
David Fonseca – President September Celebrations Committee
“Today we come together to celebrate an event that has had a major effect on all of our lives. The Battle of St. George’s Caye. In the book X-Communication, Hyde wrote and I quote: no one can deny that the most effective historical source of division between the tribes in our society has been the so called battle of St. George’s Caye unquote.”
“This young nation has been fighting for freedom, freedom from oppression, freedom from slave masters, freedom from manipulation, financial freedom, intellectual freedom. There is much to celebrate today, the 206th anniversary of the battle of St. George’s Caye. Our people have reviewed the historical facts of the battle of St. George’s Caye and have chosen to be free from subordination and manipulation as today we are moving away from mental bondage.”
After the mayor's address, the queen of the bay designate, Sharima Usher took the stage, first bowing to the queen, and then to the crowd in a curtsey that seemed to last forever
Sahira Sahia Ougoing Queen
“With this I crown thee Queen of the bay, with this scepter I bid thee ruler of the hearts of the bay, with this cloak warm the hearts of the bay.”
Sharima Usher
“I Sharima usher accept crown, robe and scepter and will wear them with honor and pride. Thank you.”
And with Sharima usher as queen, the festivities began with the citizen’s parade through the streets of the city. There were a few floats such as this nod to the little told history of the flowers negroes and there was of course the jump-up, filled out by at least one local celebrity Boots Martinez.
On Saturday, hundreds followed the example set by Boots in the carnival, where 5 junior bands and two senior bands took to Central American Boulevard. The pageantry and color was alive in the streets, but halfway through, a pouring rain put a damper on the party. Still, the judges knew what they were looking for:
Leroy Green - Judge
“In this pre-judging we are looking for punctuality which is worth ten points. Durability of the costumes whether they are breaking up or what- another ten points. Aesthetic quality, how beautiful they look twenty points. The organization of the groups, whether they have boxes out here, they are all in place and so on, that’s another ten points and the over all of everything together another ten points.”
And at the end of it, the group that fulfilled those criteria were junior champion, the Mahogany Masqueraders, and senior champion, the Southside Masqueraders.
For its first place, Mahogany Masqueraders took home three thousand dollars, and so did the senior champion Southside Masqueraders.