Carnaval

Back in Port au Prince at Grassroots United. As usual, lots going on! I arrived last Sunday, just in time to go out for Carnaval on Sunday night. Carnaval is a big deal in Haiti- it is a three day celebration, with schools and many businesses being closed Monday and Tuesday, and even Wednesday for students. From about 5pm onwards, the streets start to fill up with people in the Carnaval areas, and then the marching bands and large floats come out. Given that I play in a cajun band, but have never been to New Orleans, I had really been looking forward to seeing what Carnaval is like here. Last year, because Carnaval was so soon after the earthquake, no one wanted to celebrate, and it was cancelled right across the country.

Carnaval is celebrated in certain cities and towns in Haiti. Port au Prince has a really big one, but people dress up more in other places. A small group of us set out in a tap tap to find some Carnaval action, and indeed, soon enough, we were in a huge crowd of dancing, smiling, partying Haitians. Brass band after brass band marched by us, sometimes sweeping us along, sometimes going right on by. We were there around 7pm- and it was really crowded. You really had to work hard to stay with the group and not get lost.

I had never been to this part of the core of downtown before- and I haven't as much destruction as this in the areas I have been to thus far. There are beautiful old buildings with arched walkways that have really suffered damage. To get to Carnaval, we had to walk by a dispaced persons camp, and I have to say, I was feeling sickened already by the devastation of the crumbled buildings, but then to see the crowded camp there, it made it doubly hard to get into the spirit of Carnaval.

We did, though, as I mention, get into the centre of the dancing crowd. One of our group members had his wallet stolen, unfortunately. I caught 2 different people trying to pick my pockets. When one guy came back in for his second try, I very clearly told him to stop that in French, and he did. Imagine that!
When it was really crowded, and people were starting to push and shove, we decided to come back home.

Some of our crowd went out again the next two nights to celebrate Carnaval, but I didn't feel the need to go more than once. Apparently in Jacmal, where some of our volunteers were on Sunday night, the celebrations had a darker flavour to them. Some of them suggested voodoo- whether or not this is true, I don't know. Jean Baptiste seemed to suggest to me that sometimes spirits come out because they, too, want to celebrate Carnaval. I have so much to learn about this culture! Apparently there were spirits there to rid people of cholera also.

So, I didnt'