“My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.” Psalm 131:1-2
Back in the day, while living in Haiti, the word ‘carnival’ really didn’t mean much to me. The word caused me to reflect on the Seward County Fair with the carnival rides. I spent quite a bit of time reading about the Haiti Carnival and learned more about the cultural importance and also, it’s strong ties to voodoo. Just a quick note, I typically write ‘vodou’ which is from French and the locals write ‘voodoo’.
Well today, I want to share some more history on Haiti Carnival from personal experience and also some gathered from the internet. During Haitian Carnival, the participants, seen in the attached photo, parade through the streets of Port-au-Prince until they reach the National Palace, where the most important celebration of their Caribbean Island comes to an end.
After Port-au-Prince, Jacmel is the favorite city to experience the carnival, as it is also celebrated with great joy and the costumes made by local artists with colorful papier-mâché are striking. The Haitian Carnival is influenced by local cultures and highlights elements such as religious rituals that include voodoo and Haitian music, which has crossed borders and is very peculiar, because you can feel the mixture of ethnic groups.
I learned yesterday, that the Haiti National Committee has cancelled Carnival. The articles on the Internet cited concerns over COVID-19 and also funding were the main reasons why it was cancelled this year. Please, keep the Christians living in Haiti surrounded in your prayers during Lent.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay