GUATEMALA: Garífuna Festival

The Garinagu or Garífuna Festival is a week-long celebration of Garífuna culture and traditions. It is celebrated around the National Day of the Garífuna, which happens every November 26th, with dance, song, food and traditional ceremonies.

Every November, Livingston comes alive with people singing, dancing and celebrating in honor of the first Garífuna settlers that came to Guatemala.

The streets of this Caribbean town are the stage for the Punta dance and the singing of traditional songs that reflect the hardship of the Garífuna ancestors.

There are sporting events, cultural pageants, music concerts, traditional food sales, handicraft sales, and even academic conferences and workshops.

In the early morning on November 25th, a special ceremony is held on the beach with a reenactment of the first settlers arriving in traditional costumes and in traditional canoes. The Garífuna people of Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and even the United States often come to Livingston during the Festival to join in the celebration.

Recreational Opportunities:

Livingston offers a great variety of hotels, bars, discotheques and restaurants and other tourism services like organized tours by tour operators, and land and water transportation services.

Cultural interaction, music concerts, traditional food and handicraft sales, song, and dance are some of the recreational opportunities visitors can take part in when they visit Livingston during the festival.