2023 Belize Garifuna Settlement Day Mass to take place in Brooklyn

Garinagu will gather in a Celebration of Community and Culture, a Time of Reflection and Renewal at this Unique Mass

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Copyright 2023 by Teofilo Colon Jr for Being Garifuna. All Rights Reserved.

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Brownsville, Brooklyn – The Garifuna Settlement Committee and The Belize Exservices League sponsor and present to the public, The 2023 Garifuna Settlement Day Mass in Brooklyn.

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This Mass will take place on SUNDAY, November 12th 2023 at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Brownsville, Brooklyn at 2pm.

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This annual Mass is in commemoration of the arrival of Garifuna People to the country of Belize.

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In Belize, Garifuna Settlement Day takes place on November 19th. It is a federal and bank holiday in Belize, the ONLY country in the world where it is treated as such.

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Garifuna Settlement Day is also celebrated in Nicaragua on November 19th and in Guatemala on November 26th.

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In Honduras, April 12th is the date that commemorates the Arrival of the entire Garifuna Ethnic Group to Central America, which took place on April 12th 1797, when a few thousand Garinagu arrived on Roatan Island after being forcibly removed from their native land of St. Vincent Island in the Caribbean. This happened after losing to the British in war.

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In a sense, this Brooklyn Garifuna Settlement Day Mass allows for Belizeans to commemorate this special occasion in America and then, should schedules and finances permit, in Belize roughly a week later.

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Rosita Alvarez of The Garifuna Settlement Day Mass Committee (photo below)

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For more information about this Special Mass in Brooklyn, contact:

Rosita Alvarez (917) 405-2586

Alice Castillo (917) 588-6861

Phillip Flowers (631) 867-8032

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Anyone interested in attending this special mass is welcome to come.

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Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church

680 Mother Gaston Boulevard,

Brooklyn, NY 11212

Subway: #3 Train to The Junius Street or Rockaway Ave Subway Station.

Bus: B14

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