Editing Punta (section)

==Origins and historical context==
In their culture, the people refer to themselves as both Garinagu and Garifuna, with Garifuna mainly pertaining to their culture, music, and dance rather than using it to identify their people. There are a variety of possible origins of the ''punta'''s intended meaning for the Garifuna dance and music it represents. The word ''punta'' is a Latinization of an ancient [[West Africa]]n rhythm called ''[[Bunda (music)|bunda]]'', or "[[buttocks]]" in the [[Mandé]] language.<ref name=Greene /> Another possibility refers to ''punta'' in the Spanish meaning "from point to point", referring to the tips of one's toes or to the movement from place to place.<ref name=serrano />

The Punta dance is performed by a man and a woman who evolve separately in a circle formed by the spectators.<ref name=Taylor>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Douglas MacRae|title=The Black Carib of British Honduras|url=http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/ehrafe/fullContext.do?method=fullContext&forward=searchFullContext&col=collection('/eHRAF/ethnography/MidAmer/SA12')&docId=sa12-007&page=sa12-007-04347&offsetId=sa12-007-04368&tocOffsetId=tocsa1200704338&resultSelect=2|publisher=Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc.|access-date=20 November 2013}}</ref> They begin facing each other and the figure varies with the ingenuity of the dancers, but always represents the evolution of a courtship in which first the man pursues, and then the woman, while the other retreats; and ends only when one of them, from exhaustion or from lack of further initiative, admits defeat by retiring from the ring, to have his or her place immediately taken by another.<ref name=Taylor /> Punta dance is a mimetic cock-and-hen mating dance with rapid movements of the buttocks, hips, and feet, while the upper torso remains motionless.<ref name=Greene /> Couples attempt to dance more stylistically and seductively, with better hip movements, than their competitors. As the evening progresses, the Punta became extremely "hot"; while the spectators egged on their favorites with cries of: mígira-ba labu, "don't leave (off) under him!" or: mígira-ba tabu, "don't leave (off) under her!" which has the same effect as, "don't let him (or her) beat you!"<ref name=Taylor />

Over time due to their difficult history, music and dance became a way to explain their daily lives and surroundings, a vehicle to communicate Garifuna struggles and ideas, and an antidote to celebrate life and release Garifuna pain.<ref name=Greene /> "While punta the song form symbolizes the retention of culture through music, punta the dance form symbolizes the continuity of life."<ref name=Greene /> The basic dance appeals across lines of gender and age, whether it is expressed in its original, more conservative manner with gentle swaying hips that imply sexual desire, or the more aggressive, provocative manner that emulates sex. The constantly pulsating rhythms represent the most direct and physical form of intimacy, which attracts people of various ethnicities as well.<ref name=Greene />

Punta rituals have been observed on holidays such as Christmas Eve and New Year's Day by anthropologist Cynthia Chamberlain Bianchi during her study in the late 1970s-mid 1980s.<ref name=Bianchi>{{cite web|last=Bianchi|first=Cynthia Chamberlain|title=Gubida illness and religious ritual among the Garifuna of Santa Fe, Honduras: an ethnopsychiatric analysis|url=http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/ehrafe/fullContext.do?method=fullContext&forward=searchFullContext&col=collection('/eHRAF/ethnography/MidAmer/SA12')&docId=sa12-016&page=sa12-016-03556&offsetId=sa12-016-03579&tocOffsetId=tocsa1201603571&resultSelect=2|publisher=University Microfilms International|access-date=20 November 2013}}</ref> More commonly were the religious or ancestral rituals, as those seen on the ninth-night wakes by anthropologist Nancie Gonzales during her fieldwork in Central America.<ref name=Gonzales>{{cite web|last=Gonzales|first=Nancie L. Solien|title=Sojourners of the Caribbean: ethnogenesis and ethnohistory of the Garifuna|url=http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/ehrafe/fullContext.do?method=fullContext&forward=searchFullContext&col=collection('/eHRAF/ethnography/MidAmer/SA12')&docId=sa12-001&page=sa12-001-03926&offsetId=sa12-001-03954&tocOffsetId=tocsa1200103922&resultSelect=2|publisher=University of Illinois Press|access-date=20 November 2013}}</ref> If a death occurred at night, then the wake would begin early the next morning and continue all day, ending with a burial in the late afternoon. However, if the death were during the day, an all-night wake would ensue with people coming and going throughout, with prayers and drinking being a familiar sight.<ref name=Gonzales /> Punta dancing can be considered a salient feature of the all-night watches and was mandatory for many participants. Gonzales reflected on her work and other anthropologists', such as Virginia Kearns, concluding that similar evidence has been found in Belize, as well as her own in Honduras, that most punta dancing and story telling was kept until the ninth-night wake, rather than included at any time.<ref name=Gonzales />

Punta music is well known for its call and response patterns and rhythmic drumming that reflects an African and Amerindian origin.<ref name=serrano /> The Garinagu people say that their music is not about feeling or emotion, as in most other Latin American nations, but more so about events and dealing with the world around them. A Garifuna elder, Rutilia Figueroa, stated: "The Garifuna sing their pain. They sing about their concerns. They sing about what's going on. We dance when there is a death. It's a tradition [meant] to bring a little joy to the family, but every song has a different meaning. Different words. The Garifuna does not sing about love. The Garifuna sings about things that reach your heart."<ref name=serrano>{{cite web|last=Serrano|first=Amy|title=From Punta to Chumba: Garifuna Music and Dance in New Orleans|url=http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/garifuna.html|publisher=Louisiana Division of the Arts|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref>