Hopkins: Garifuna Culture, Dance and Drumming

Hopkins is considered a cultural center of the Garifuna community. Experiences include Garifuna drumming, dance and cuisine, as well as village tours and explorations by kayak or canoe. If you’re looking for a vacation rental in Hopkins, these different focuses can help shape your decision: Would you mainly like to experience the culture, get to know the dishes, or discover the village on a tour?

Garifuna Culture in Hopkins

The Lebeha Drumming Center was founded in 2002 by drummer Jabbar Lambey and Canadian Dorothy Pettersen. It gives local children the opportunity to learn about drumming, dance and Garifuna cultural heritage. Visitors can also learn to play Garifuna drums there. So, alongside experiencing dance and music, learning and taking part are also ways to connect with the culture in Hopkins. If you’re traveling with children, the learning opportunity specifically intended for children is a concrete aspect you can consider when planning.

The Wanaragua dance comes from Garifuna culture and is also known as Jankunu and John Canoe. Its striking costume includes a mask, shells attached to each knee, and an elaborate headdress. When watching a dancer, you can pay attention not only to the movements but also to these individual elements. In Hopkins, visitors can follow the movements of a Jankunu dancer or dance along themselves. Christmas Day is one occasion when you can experience the Wanaragua dance in Hopkins, among other places. If you’d like to plan your trip specifically around it, check the event dates for the year in question.

Music, Village Tours and Cuisine

On a Garifuna drumming tour in Hopkins, around four or five Garifuna drummers play on the beach, and you can join in the dancing. Visitors can also experience Garifuna cuisine and drumming when meeting local people. The tour combines music and movement on the beach, while meeting local people offers further opportunities to connect with cuisine and music.

You can take a village tour of Hopkins on foot, by bicycle or in a vehicle. From the water, you can explore the village by kayak or canoe. These options offer different ways to see the village: you can choose a village tour or an exploration from the water. This lets you choose activities based on how you’d like to get to know Hopkins.

Garifuna cooking classes in Hopkins bring together cassava, coconuts, plantains and fish to make hudut or a warm cup of sahou. The ingredients and dishes mentioned give the culinary part of the trip a specific focus. A cooking class offers a different way to experience the cuisine than meeting people and enjoying Garifuna dishes and drumming. If food is part of how you like to discover a culture, you can include these culinary opportunities in your travel plans alongside dance and music.

In the wider destination of Stann Creek

The wider destination of Stann Creek also offers other cultural and historical points of interest. Visitors can learn to play Garifuna drums at the Lebeha Drumming Center in Hopkins. In Dangriga, they can take part in Garifuna cultural dances, experience drumming and enjoy culinary specialties. This lets you weigh the experiences in Hopkins and Dangriga according to their different cultural focuses.

The Serpon Sugar Mill illustrates another topic: the development of the sugar industry in southern Belize and its effects on the economy and cultural landscape. Placencia, Dangriga and Hopkins in the Stann Creek District are considered good starting points for visits to South Water Caye. This regional overview adds other aspects of Stann Creek to the decision to stay in Hopkins, without combining the different places into a single experience.

Discover more destinations: Pomona, Middlesex, Dangriga, Placencia, Kendal, Riversdale, Seine Bight

Back to the broader travel overview: Stann Creek.