Hurricanes and Garifuna Liturgy

Praise God... I just found out that last year when a hurricane went by Belize rumour circulated at Franciscan University that all of us were washed out to sea or something (Imagine... rumours at Francisan. Unheard of.) Now, not that you would have known this from watching the weather channel, who apparently has never heard of "Belize" because they didn't even see the need to label the country on their map!!!!! (not like we're bitter here. Just living in a country that the world doesn't think exists)... Anyways, Hurricane Wilma came dangerously close to wobbling over La Isla Bonita and praise God, we were spared. It came so close, in fact, that for the first time in my life I actually evacuated from a storm (no one who knows my family would believe this move). I have to say, there's something different about evacuating in a car over highway 278... it seems so easy. However, when you're on an island only accessible by boat or very small plane (they might as well be those ones you get from the dentist office that you wind up and throw off your bunk bed), you consider your hurricane plans in a different light. We were watching the waves crash against the reef and then spill over the seawall into the front of the resorts and decided that we were getting off the rock.

The painful thing about this evacuation was that Ali and I had just been in Benque for a couple days and had only returned to the island that morning. We left Belize city and everyone was saying, "oh yeah, no storm, no problem"... after a bumpy ride which took us past huge waves and a few overturned boats we arrived at the first stop, Caye Caulker where there were about fifty locals lined up to get to Belize City. Ali and I looked at each other and then at our empty boat and thought... hmm... Sure enough as soon as my foot hit the dock my phone rang and Dinorah called, telling us that we were welcome back if we had to leave. We took her up on the offer.

Each day we were in Benque we called back to San Pedro to see how things were going. On Friday we thought about comming back so we called Abel, one of the lay ministers and a seasoned fisherman who's ridden out hurricanes in a mangrove swamp. The conversation went something like this: Ali said, "Abel, how's it going there?".
"Oh, it's fine Ali, just fine."
"really? No waves or flooding?"
"Oh, yes, flooding, the water's up at the houses. But it always is. Are you comming back today?"
"Well, Abel, are the water taxis running so we can get back?"
"Oh no, the water taxi's aren't running. It's to rough".
"Well then I guess we can't come back yet".
"Oh, I suppsoe not".

It occured to us after talking to him that someone who's weathered 30 years of storms at sea probably isn't the best one to consult in regards to the severity of a storm.

So, we stayed in Benque for a while and ended up going to the mass celebrating the close of the Eucharistic year in Belize that took place in Belmopan. Now, this mass was with all of Belize and the Bishop and it was definately a cultural experience. We walk in and there's a whole Garifuna choir (Garifuna is a culture that's descended from survivors of a slave ship that was traveling from Africa to the U.S. and wrecked off the coast of Belize. Therefore, the culture is very African). So, these ladies are all singing in this choir and everytime they sang a song they swayed their hips back and forth to the music. The icing on the cake was when they sang the Our Father in Garifuna and said to everyone, "Join hands across the aisles and let's sing the Our Father and move to the music". In all my days at Franciscan I've never seen anything like this. The whole stadium, hands joined, swaying to the music and bobbing up and down. It would be enough to send any liturgist into a fit. But it was so FUN! The best part of the whole experience was watching Fr. Dan, the pastor of Mt. Carmel who had just professed to us his total lack of charismatic style, standing on the altar while all of these gringo priests were trying to get into the prayer. Some were all about it, others, like Fr. Dan, were standing as still as possible. For him to move any less, he would have had to be comatose or something. The whole situation was just a perfect blend of Belizean culture and gringo-awkwardness that makes you giggle at random moments for the rest of the week just thinking about it.

So, that about wraps it up. We're getting ready for an All Saints Day fair and costume contest with the primary school and I may just bust out the digital camera to capture it all on film. Stay tuned!