“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25
As I wrote yesterday, my knowledge or appreciation of Haitian vodou holidays, festivals or carnival was limited when I first moved to Haiti in March of 2001. On one occasion, probably a month after arriving in Haiti, I was driving about a mile through Petionville to visit Pastor Thomas Bernard in Caredeux, on a vodou holiday; unbeknownst to me. I turned on Delmas 75 and found my truck in the middle of several hundred Haitians wearing white robes, marching from curb-to-curb. They slowly allowed me to pass through their assembly. I related this incident to Pastor Thomas and he couldn’t believe what I had done. Didn’t I know that Christians don’t go out on vodou holidays?
On Shrove Tuesday, the residents of Port-au-Prince again take to the streets and do not return home until ‘Shrove Tuesday’ has ended. For this date there are food stands offering snacks, grills and rum, which is indispensable for this celebration, where vodou people enjoy a few days of uninhibited rambling.
Local bands have a space in this festival playing into the late hours in outdoor parks, and they carry out competitions among them, where genres such as zouk, rap kreyòl rap, konpa and mizik rasin are played. There was a park near to my apartment and I’m not a fan of any genre of rap music, and my verbal prayers weren’t able to silence the Shrove Tuesday rap concert.
Although this is the traditional carnival of Haiti, there are other celebrations that take place throughout the year, such as Rara, which takes place during Lent and consists of processions that take place during the day and sometimes at night, where musicians play drums, trumpets and other instruments. Such a group is in the attached photo taken from the roof of my apartment.
Rara parades have religious overtones, as the dancers follow male voodoo leaders, who make stops at crossroads, cemeteries and the homes of community leaders. The Carnaval des Fleurs and the Koudyay are other celebrations that were promoted by former presidents of Haiti, in order to distract the people and make them forget the economic and political problems they were going through at the time. Once again, please keep all Christians living in Haiti 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