The History of Jankunu in Belize

Wanaragua (literally “mask”), commonly called Jankunu, is essentially a two-fold system of masked Christmas processionals that is commonly performed during the Christmas season, specifically from December 25 to Epiphany, January 6. Wanaragua is also the name of the principal dance rite of the system. As such, it is a unique synthesis of three cultural traditions: (1) African harvest festivals, ancestor rituals, and secret societies, (2) English mummer’s plays, and (3) Amerindian (Arawak and Carib) festivals. Charikanari, the second processional dance, features stock characters such as Two-Foot Cow, Devil, and numerous hianro (men and boys dressed as women). During the wanaragua dance Garifuna men adorn themselves with colorful regalia to replicate and mock British military customs through music and dance (Greene 2006, 196). As dancers process from house to house, they mimic past foreign oppressors while symbolically affirming their identity. Dancers perform stylized movements to the entertainment of onlookers while being accompanied by drums and social commentary songs composed by men. When male wanaragua dancers dress as women and Garifuna women pose as male wanaragua dancers, the ritual exhibits double role reversal. In Guatemala and Honduras men wear long dresses to which are occasionally attached long colored ribbons. Some Garifuna believe that the wearing of dresses can be attributed to the belief that Garifuna men intentionally dressed as women during the Second Garifuna War from 1795-1796, to avoid capture and execution by the British.

Although the interpretation of the dance movements by Garifuna primero drummers is a common feature of most Garifuna dance-song genres, it is the central and focal point of the drum-dance relationship in wanaragua. Because costume apparel is almost identical for wanaragua dancers from head to toe, onlookers focus on individual stylized dance. Observers recognize individual dancers by the unique manner in which the dancer draws attention to himself as he interprets the three primary dance movements of wanaragua: tremblings, one salinda, and banquatta. The segunda (bass) drummer performs the characteristic repetitive ostinato (a repetitive rhythmic pattern) that accompanies all wanaragua songs. The primero drummers carefully watches the feet and movement of each dancer and improvises a series of rhythmic patterns that he feels best interprets the unique movements of that dancer.

Source: Traditional Garifuna Music from Belize
Artists: Isawel Flores, Albert Lucas, Josephine Lambey, Marcia Chamorro, Patricia Nicasio, and Monaco Martinez

Costume apparel typically features wire mask on which are painted European faces, colorful cotton head wraps, headdresses made of cardboard covered with colorful fabric, paper maché balls and circular glass mirrors. Long, dyed, wild turkey features are also attached to the headdress. Garifuna men in Dangriga, Belize wear long-sleeve white shirts across which wide strips of black or pink and green ribbon are attached. Dancers also wear white gloves, black or white pants, cowry shell knee rattles that are attached below the knees, long black stocking socks, and tennis shoes. Onlookers are further amused at the presence of wanaragua hianro, men who pose as women by wearing a blouse, skirt, mask, communion or wedding veil, and women’s tennis shoes. Therefore, costume and movement are integral to the mocking and mimicry of British military and social costumes: the primary objective of wanáragua. In Guatemala and Honduras men often wear head dresses that are similar in construction to those described above, but more elaborate and feature additional strips of colorful ribbon. However, they traditionally wear long dresses of colorful material instead of exaggerated replicas of military regalia as in Dangriga, Belize.

Though the movements and dances of wanáragua are entertaining and humorous to onlookers, the themes of the many wanáragua songs are pensive and serious in nature. Because wanáragua is a male social commentary song form, many of the themes address issues such as unrequited love, the desire to find a wife, an unfaithful lover, and the lost of a loved one. Wanáragua songs, like most indigenous Garifuna songs, are performed in succession in a call-and-response manner without pause. The dangu (drummers) provide rhythmic accompaniment for dancers as the song leader and responding gayusa (a chorus primarily composed of women) continuously sing social commentary songs. The existence of the wanáragua songs in Belizean English creole support the belief of some Garifua scholars that the wanáragua may have been first introduced to Garifuna in mahogany camps in the 19th and early 20th century when Garifuna men worked with creoles who are thought to have first practiced a version of wanáragua.

“Wanaragua is not Jankunu, I don't understand some garífuna persist and why they want to position the Garifuna Warrior dance with Jankunu from Jamaica.”