Editing Punta (section)

==Role of women==

During her field study in southern Belize from 1974 to 1976, Virginia Kerns witnessed the women's roles and participation in punta first hand. She recalls: "During the course of the singing, one woman distributes rum to the others present. Later, feeling the full effects of several drinks, the women begin to dance punta and the atmosphere grows increasingly festive. Outside, the inevitable crowd of spectators gathers, mainly young adults and children, who hover on the periphery at such ritual events."<ref name=kearns>{{cite web|last=Kearns|first=Virginia|title=Women and the ancestors: Black Carib kinship and ritual|url=http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/ehrafe/fullContext.do?method=fullContext&forward=searchFullContext&col=collection('/eHRAF/ethnography/MidAmer/SA12')&docId=sa12-004&page=sa12-004-04830&offsetId=sa12-004-04844&tocOffsetId=tocsa1200404662&resultSelect=2|publisher=University of Illinois Press|access-date=20 November 2013|year=1983}}</ref>  She also notes that the length of the dancing can go on as long as the next afternoon, depending on the supply of rum and the enthusiasm of the dancers.<ref name=kearns/>

In a more recent study done in 2009, Amy Serrano took a closer look at Garinagu roots and influence within New Orleans. She notes that during some performances the men partake and the women watch, while others involve both men and women interacting and dancing or solely women performing. These influences can be seen in the call and response aspect of punta, as well as the dancing and playing of the instruments.<ref name=serrano />

While men in the Garifuna community tend to learn their customs through informal apprenticeships in New Orleans, women consciously conserve and pass on the cultural dances and songs to the younger generations through storytelling. This continuing practice resembles the past, like when the Garifuna first arrived in Honduras and the women cultivated the homes where West African and indigenous spirituality merged with the Catholic religion into their emerging Garifuna folk expression, and above all, within family, ritual, and celebration.<ref name=serrano />
To clarify this statement from Serrano's research, "Juan M. Sambula, a former community activist from Honduras who recently came to New Orleans for reconstruction work shares the following:

'For us, the women are dedicated to the children and the church because customs we have are based on the Gari tribe of Africa, mixed with Arawak. So I think that the mother's role in this case is different because she is dedicated to the children and the church while the man is dedicated to his friends.' "<ref name=serrano />