Ebo Town Festival Celebrates Emancipation Day in Belize City

The 2024 Ebo Town Festival, an event tied to the celebration of Emancipation Day, was held in Belize City yesterday. The event was spearheaded by the National Institute of Culture and History NICH in collaboration with the Belize City Council and various other partners. The festival was held at the Yabra Green, with some stalls and attractions in the Isiah Mortar Square on Albert Street. Ebo Town, the area now called Yabra Road, was the name given to the first settlement for enslaved Africans brought to Belize to work in the mahogany industry. Minister of Culture Francis Fonseca says that while the event emphasizes the struggles and triumphs of Africans in Belize, the festival is for Belizeans of all ethnicities to enjoy.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education: “We’re celebrating the great history of Belize. Obviously today is Emancipation Day. I’m very proud of the fact that our government two years ago recognized and declared this day as a national holiday, a public and bank holiday, in recognition of the great sacrifice that our forefathers made. So Emancipation Day is a day for all Belizeans. I know often people think it’s a day for Kriol Belizeans or African descent Belizeans. Yes it is, but it’s a day for all of us, all Belizeans to celebrate and acknowledge and recognize the great history of Belize and the great contribution that African descendants have made to the development of our country. So it’s a proud day for all of us and certainly as the Minister of Culture I wanted to be here at the Eboe Town festival to celebrate with my friends this wonderful day. Every year NICH and the Ministry of Education invest in this festival. So, you know, it’s a fantastic day.”

Rolando Cocom, Director of the Institute of Social and Cultural Research, said that the festival was as much as about information as it was celebration. The institute had a stall at the festival sharing important historical facts about Belize including the impact of slavery and the importance of Emancipation Day.

Rolando Cocom, Director of the Institute of Social and Cultural Research: “The Eboe Town Festival is a big part of how Belize has chosen to celebrate Emancipation Day. It is a festival of culture, of arts, of the handicrafts, of the drumming, and of information and discussion. We in particular, the ISCR division of NICH brought out an exhibit which we are calling “Emancipate” and notice we are saying emancipate as a verb because there is a lot more that needs to be done to bring emancipation and today, August 1st, 2024, is the proper time to do this public awareness. And even though it’s a public and bank holiday, we have a duty at NICH to ensure that more Belizeans can uncover this history, can relate to this history, because we live it when we see ourselves, when we hear ourselves in the Kriol language, in the food that we eat. It expresses, I think, that spirit of freedom that all of our ancestors no matter what ethnic group have strived for but today in particular we recognize African ancestors that have done their part to ensure freedom.”

Cocom said that sharing the information on emancipation forms a part of the greater effort to seek reparations for the atrocities of slavery.