“Bellamina” is a song about the Bahamanian crews of rum running ships trying to avoid the U.S. Coast Guard. In the case of the Bellamina they paint the white boat black so it will be less easily detected at night. Author Zora Neale Hurston heard “Belllamina” when she first arrived in the Bahamas, incorporated it into one of her plays and even made a recording of the song in the ’30s. “Bellamina, Bellamina, Bellamina’s in the harbor, Bellamina, Bellamina, Bellamina’s in the harbor, Put Bellamina on de dock and paint Bellamina black black black, put Bellamina on de dock and paint Bellamina black.” In our version we don’t worry about being sneaky. We take scarves, put them on our kids’ heads and “paint” them many colors.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
