Auld Lang Syne

It's always interesting to be in other places during holidays to see how other cultures celebrate.  Sometimes its fun to see how the 4th of July and Martin Luther King Day are just regular days and no one pays them any attention.  But it is also fun to see how bigger holidays are celebrated differently.  First of all, Thanksgiving is not a thing in Haiti, which should hopefully be pretty obvious.  Given the fact that over 90% of the population of Haiti follows some variety of Christianity, Christmas is the next major holiday.  The religious aspects of Christmas are more central here.  There is less focus on the gift-giving and materialism and more on what the day itself actually represents in biblical history.  For example, most people go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  Some people hang up Christmas lights.  There were a few houses here that had lights and other decorations and there were more houses and businesses in Port-au-Prince that were all done up for the season.  The younger kids in Fon Ibo colored pictures of Tonton Noël (Santa, but literally Uncle Christmas) during school.  Other than these, however, there are not really any big Christmas traditions.

This Christmas felt a little strange.  It never really felt like Christmas.  I knew that it was coming, but I was never really into the "Christmas spirit," despite my one night of wrapping presents for everyone here and watching Love Actually and White Christmas.  I realized that one of the reasons it felt so strange was that I never went through the season progression.  It was pretty much the same temperature in December as it was in September, so my mind/body was all confused.  I never thought how much my body and mind was used to the seasons until I came to a place that is really only broken down into a rainy and dry season or just hot and then even hotter.  

New Year's is more of a celebratory day.  This is mostly because the 1st of January coincides with Haiti’s Day of Independence.  Haiti gained its independence from the French in 1804, after the Haitian Revolution.  St. Domingue, as Haiti was called under French rule, was the most profitable colony in the Americas with its exports of sugar and coffee.  During the French Revolution, the white population in St. Domingue was split between Royalists and Revolutionaries.  Slaves took advantage of this division and an open rebellion ensued in the summer of 1791.  The next decade was full of violence, chaos, French, Spanish and US interference that turned into open civil war.  Toussaint Louverture, a former slave, (the airport in PAP is named after him), was a powerful figure both in the rebellion and in ending the war, but also in the building of Haitian politics.  In 1800, he was named the colony’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief and eventually Governor General for Life.  Under his rule, slavery was abolished and equality between races was called for in the new constitution.  Catholicism was accepted as the national religion and voodoo was outlawed.  He continued to enforce the plantation system and mainly exported to France.  Because of his policies, many thought that he was trying to reinstate slavery.  In 1801, more rebellion, this time against Louverture’s regime, erupted.  France returned to "try and restore peace," but was eventually forced to evacuate their troops in late 1803.  On 1 January 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared independence, was named the first ruler of the new country and made Haiti the first black republic.

Today, January 1st is a family day.  Years ago, people returned to their parent's house to receive a blessing from their father.  While this specific practice may not be as common today, January 1st is still reserved for family.  Almost everything in the country is shut down for the celebrations.  The most important Independence Day tradition has to do with what food is eaten.  While under French rule, slaves were not permitted to eat soup joumou (pumpkin soup).  To celebrate their freedom, every Haitian eats soup joumou on Independence Day.

I spent New Year's Eve at Tiden’s Bar.  He had a big party.  We celebrated with Prestige (Haiti’s beer), konpa music (and a few American classics), and even fireworks at midnight.  It was fun to sing and dance and to see that New Year's seems to be celebrated in pretty similar ways around the world. The night ended with Frankie getting her phone stolen and me driving Beth and her home in a gator that belongs to an American couple who lives here for part of the year.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to eat any soup joumou on New Year's Day because we left for our next adventure — vacation in the North.  But that’s another post.

Happy New Year!

This picture makes me look much calmer than what I was feeling.  I was so scared to be driving in a vehicle I knew nothing about, at night and on roads that I had only been driven down a handful of times.  I was terrified that dogs or goats or people would cross just in front of us and I wouldn't be able to stop.  But, we made it back safely and with only had one minor problem -- trying to figure out how to turn the engine off when we got home!

Since driving and blowing the horn to warn people and various animals of our approach was a little too much for me to do at the same time, Beth was in charge of our epic horn.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/haitian-rev

http://library.brown.edu/haitihistory/11.html