Vodou

Dondon grottoes

April 21, 2020 by admin

view from inside a cave with vines in entrance — View of Dondon from inside a grotto
Photo: Franck Fontain

Dondon grottoes

Located in the mountains of northern Haiti, Dondon has been settled since pre-colonial times when Haiti’s indigenous Taíno peoples lived there. This little corner of Haiti attracts a lot of tourists, and the main drawcard for visitors is the opportunity to explore the stunning system of grottoes nearby.

vodou symbol painted on a cave floor — Vodou vèvè inside a grotto in Dondon
Photo: Franck Fontain

The grottoes

Dondon’s spectacular cave system has ten separate grottoes. Some are easy to access and have a given name: Ladies’ Vault, Marc-Antoine grotto, Smoke Vault, Cadelia Vault, Saint Martin Vault, Minguet Vault and Michel grotto, all named because of their individual history.

Some of these caves were Taíno cult locations during the pre-colombian period, where the Taínos would come to pray to their gods. One of the gods prayed to in times of drought is still visible on the walls of the grotto, and in post-colonial times is venerated by vodouwizan as an important figure within vodou. The other grottoes remain unnamed, their histories steeped in mystery.

Guided tours

Many Dondon area locals – young and old – are happy to jump into the role of guide for the grottoes. Some have learned by heart formulas in French and English, which can make for charming – if confusing – conversation.

Experienced and impromptu guides will be more than happy to help you discover the best spots, hidden petroglyphs and the history infusing these grottoes – some of this history only survives as stories handed down from generation to generation, so you won’t find it anywhere else.

haitian man sitting on donkey drinking in river — A man on a donkey by Riviere Bouyaja in Dondon
Photo: Anton Lau

Festivals in Dondon

Every town in Haiti has its own patron saint festival. In Dondon, pilgrims come from far and wide to celebrate Saint Martin of Tours. Some come here to party, others come as tourists to observe, but most are here to honor the Vodou divinities, the lwa believed to live here. The patron saint festival of Saint Martin of Tours happens in Dondon on November 9 – 11, but party preparations start on November 7. For five days, crowds filter into Dondon to savor kleren, eat delicious griot, and dance to troubadour music from morning ‘til night.

There is also the Dondon Festival, held from July 18 to 23. This festival is about Dondon itself rather than lwa, and draws vacationers who come to take advantage of the great swimming spots in nearby rivers, go on excursions and participate in the conferences that take place for the occasion.

What else is nearby?

Dondon is close to the UNESCO World Heritage Sans-Souci Palace and Citadelle Laferrière, which locals call the eighth wonder of the world. A visit to both sites is considered essential for any visit to Haiti, and the journey there is well-worth the effort.

Fort Moïse, on top of the Saint Martin Vault, is also close by. Other attractions include the Kota waterfall and the historical Vincent Ogé residence. The on-site coffee co-op at the residence is a great place to taste the very particular flavor of Haitian coffee.

cave entrance with vines and trees — Overgrown entrance to a grotto in Dondon
Photo: Franck Fontain

Getting to the Dondon grottoes

Dondon is located in the north of Haiti, about a two hour drive south of Cap-Haïtien. The journey to Dondon will take you over roads that are winding and can be pretty rough in places. On paper (or GPS), the route through the town of Saint-Michel might look good, but that road serves up more adventure than most travellers are looking for, and we don’t recommended it. The best way to get to Dondon we’ve found is this one:

From Port-au-Prince, drive out of the capital towards Cap-Haïtien via Route Nationale #1. The road to Cap-Haïtien makes up the longest chunk of the drive, but its recent completion makes it a comfortable trip, not to mention a scenic one, with many towns to stop in along the way, each with their own character. Once in Cap-Haïtien, continue towards the town of Milot. Make a left after you pass Rivière du Nord, and in another hour or so you’ll arrive at Dondon.

There’s no formal fee to see the caves but you’ll need to hire a (formal or informal) guide. Remember to bring food and drinks with you for the trip as there’s no guarantee you’ll find anything on site, although Lakou Lakay is a great place to stop for lunch if you’re travelling via Milot.

Written by Jean Fils and translated by Kelly Paulemon.

Published April 2020

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Vodou Pilgrimage to Saut d’Eau

February 11, 2020 by admin

crowd of haitians standing under a huge waterfall — Pilgrims gathering beneath the Saut d’Eau waterfalls
Photo: Franck Fontain

On the trail of the Vodou pilgrimage to Saut d’Eau

Every year, this one-of-a-kind Vodou pilgrimage brings together crowds of the devoted and the curious

Haitian culture – we mention it a lot here at Visit Haiti, but what is it, exactly?

Haitian culture is a cluster of concepts, practices and identities, including the Kreyol (Haitian Creole) language, a set of morals, everyday customs, the history of the modern nation of Haiti (as well as the interrelated history of the Dominican Republic and the island of Hispaniola as a whole), and the Haitian religion – Vodou.

Spelled Vodou to distinguish it from the voodoo traditions of Louisiana and elsewhere in the African diaspora, Haitian Vodou is born out of the unique mix of many African religious practices with christianity, all of which were transported here to Haiti during the colonial period.

According to sales archives preserved from the colonial era (and still accessible in private collections or at the National Library of France), we learn that plantations often held slaves of up to ten different ethnicities. This included members of the island’s indigenous Taíno people, few of whom had survived the brutal regime of colonisation and enslavement up to that point. Colonial plantation owners were recommended to hold slaves from different ethnicities together on the same plantation, so that they’d have nothing in common but the color of their skin. People thrown together on Haitian plantations included Fon (Dahomey) people from Benin, Congo and elsewhere. In The Mysteries of Vodou, Laennec Hurbon explains that the word Vodou comes from the language spoken in Benin and means “invisible and formidable power”.

This multiculturalism allowed Haitian Vodou to acquire over the course of the years characteristics that are its own, and awards it all the richness it has today. One of the roots of this richness is the religious syncretism that allowed African practices to graft themselves to Christianity as well as to the indigenous practices that already existed on the island. From there, the Christian saints became vodou lwas and Christian celebrations transformed into Vodou ceremonies and celebrations.

One of these celebrations is the annual pilgrimage to honor the Miraculous Virgin of Saut d’Eau at the magical Saut d’Eau waterfall (spelled Sodo in Kreyol).

haitian girl sitting behind table with merchandise for sale — Vendor selling offer gifts at Saut d’Eau
Photo: Franck Fontain

The Miraculous Virgin of Saut d’Eau

Popular in Vodou spaces around Haiti, the Miraculous Virgin of Saut d’Eau is renowned for bringing luck in love and in economic transactions. You’ll also find her venerated under the names Saint Anne (Mother of the Virgin Mary in the Christian tradition) or Little Saint Anne (Kreyol: Ti Sent Án) or Miraculous Virgin.

Every year from July 14 to 16, devotees from across Haiti make a pilgrimage to the Saut d’Eau waterfall, located 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The event also attracts curious travellers from around the world, who want to witness this one-of-a-kind Vodou pilgrimage.

haitian pilgrims during a spiritual ritual by waterfall — Pilgrims bathing at Saut d’Eau
Photo: Franck Fontain

How to invoke the favor of the Miraculous Virgin

To obtain the Miraculous Virgin’s favor, Vodou practitioners travel to the sacred Saut d’Eau waterfall to conduct a purification ritual. Most practitioners make the pilgrimage in summer, but the ritual is possible at any time of the year.

The ritual is called a “luck bath”. The devotee journeys to the cult site with a calabash (a water flask made from a gourd) as well as gifts to offer to the goddess, before disrobing and diving under the magnificent Saut d’Eau waterfall. Devotees carry a small collection of leaves, plants, and herbs linked to the goddess and believed to have therapeutic virtues. If they want to, the supplicants can also bring orgeat syrup, perfume or flowers, or prepare a meal to offer as a pledge of their good faith and their loyalty to the lwa.

Once the preparations are complete, the supplicant bathes under the waterfall (either alone or with the help of an ougan (Vodou priest)), washing while invoking the protection and virtues of the goddess. It is critical, at the end of this ceremony, to break the calabash that served to carry water from the waterfall to wash oneself and to leave in the water the clothes which the supplicant had worn to the site – these represent their past bad luck. Instead, devotees leave dressed in new clothes, and hopefully imbued with the goddess’ protection and luck for the future.

crowd of haitians preparing for a spiritual bath by waterfall — Saut d’Eau
Photo: Franck Fontain

Make a pilgrimage of your own

Intrigued? Although it’s one of the most sacred sites in Haiti, Saut d’Eau is not cut off from the curious. Travellers are welcome to visit the waterfall any time of year. Whether you want to try your luck at invoking the lwa‘s favor, or just enjoy the experience of bathing under an incredible freshwater waterfall, framed by gorgeous forest filled with birdsong, you’re welcome to make a pilgrimage of your own to this very special place.

Saut d’Eau waterfall (spelled Sodo in Kreyol) is located 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince, near Mirebalais. The pilgrimage happens from July 14 to 16, but the site is open to visitors year-round (road conditions allowing).

The magnificent Saut d’Eau waterfall is just one of many mystical sites used for the Vodou luck bath ritual, including Bassin Saint Jacques and the gorgeous Bassin Bleu.

haitian woman in blue dress with small child in straw hat — Saut d’Eau
Photo: Franck Fontain

Written by Melissa Beralus and translated by Kelly Paulemon.

Published February 2020

Explore Haiti’s Art & Culture

Fèt Gede – the Haitian Day of the Dead

February 1, 2020 by admin

haitian man dressed in purple shirt with human bones celebrating fet gede — Fèt Gede in Port-au-Prince
Photo: Franck Fontain

Fèt Gede – the Haitian Day of the Dead

Fèt Gede – the Haitian Day of the Dead – is an annual tradition when practitioners of vodou parade through the streets, possessed by the spirits of the dead (gede)

Every year, on November 1 and 2, Haiti becomes the stage for a unique celebration: Fèt Gede, the “Festival of the Dead”. Much like the Day of the Dead practiced in Mexico and by Latin communities in the US, Fèt Gede is a way to pay respects to loved ones who have passed on.

In Haiti, each religion celebrates this differently: Catholics meet at church for a mass dedicated to the deceased, and Protestants come together too — but adherents of one of the country’s state religions — vodou — celebrate their deceased in a much more festive way. Although it overlaps with the concept and calendar space of Christian All Souls Day, Fête Gede traces its origins to African ancestral traditions, preserved across oceans and centuries in modern-day Haiti.

Gede shows are notoriously loud and extravagant, and can be seen nearly everywhere across Haiti, with Vodou practitioners dressed elaborately to represent the subset of lwa or loa — “spirits” — called gede — “the dead”. Gede may be invisible for the rest of the year, but during Fèt Gede, the dead definitely do not go unnoticed!

See more photos from a Fèt Gede celebration in Gonaîves here!

Fèt Gede celebrations
Photo: Franck Fontain

Vodou, lwa and gede

Vodou is a prominent feature of Haitian culture, and as a religion it has many practitioners — called vodouwizan — spread across the country. The religious syncretism between vodou and christianity has historically made it difficult to make an official estimate of numbers of practitioners, since most people who practice Haitian vodou to some extent also identify with a Christian denomination, but unofficial estimates suggest as much as 50% of Haitians practice vodou. For these vodouwizan, Fèt Gede is an important occasion to honor the gede.

But what are the gede exactly?

Every vodouwizan has their own gede. It’s either a close friend or a relative – the gede is the reincarnation of a loved one who has come from the afterlife to live in the body of the vodouwizan who called upon them. But not every ancestor is venerated as a gede. For the dead to become a gede, the vodouwizan must, through a Vodou ceremony, contact the deceased and transform them into a gede, which they can then invoke as they see fit.

According to vodou, by becoming a gede, the deceased are transformed from being simply a human soul that has passed on into a lwa, and this lwa generally has a name that begins with gede, for example, gede loray, with loray meaning “thunder.” Sometimes a relative who served a gede dies, and another vodouwizan decides to take up servitude of that same gede.

Party in the cemetary

During gede celebrations, the streets of every city are full of vodouwizan. On November 1 and 2, vodouwizan come together to around cemeteries to make devotions, perform precise rituals, and to generally honor the deceased.

Every cemetery on the island is overrun by vodouwizan – some possessed by gede, and others not. Those who are possessed are easily recognizable by their attire: dressed in white, black, and purple, their faces covered in white powder and black sunglasses, a walking stick in hand, and the indispensable bottle filled with alcohol and hot peppers (especially kleren and a type of habanero called goat pepper). The gede love hot peppers, and from time to time, in the middle of the street, they pour the pepper-infused alcohol all over their bodies, and particularly on their genitals, writhing and mimicking erotic postures and scenes, much to the delight of spectators.

Possessed by the gede lwa, these men and women cover several miles on foot while dancing, their waists leading their every movement. Following an unspoken instruction, they all share a single final destination: the cemetery. Once at the cemetery, the boisterous spectacle continues with loud singing, erotic dancing, and bodies drenched in spicy substances. Other vodouwizan who have come to visit their deceased relatives and friends take some time to pour coffee and grilled corn on their graves, and talk with the relative or close friend.

But first, paraders must obtain permission to enter the cemetery at the ceremonial grave of the “first man”, Bawon Samdi, and the first woman, Manman Brijit. The gede are a very large family; Bawon Samdi represents the father, Manman Brijit the mother, and they’re followed by Bawon Kriminèl, Gede Nibo, Gede Loray, Brave Gede, and Gede Zanrenyen, who together form an escort for all gede.

Bawon Samdi (/Samedi), also known as Papa Gede, presides over the festivities. Papa Gede’s colors are black, white and purple, and he is often characterized smoking cigars, wearing a top hat and sunglasses – frequently with only one lens. Some say this is because Bawon Samdi sees both worlds, which gives him an uncanny resemblance to the one-eyed god Odin of Nordic mythology, who also tread the path between the dead and the living.

haitian girls in purple/white dresses and painted faces celebrate fet gede — Fèt Gede celebration
Photo: Kolektif 2 Dimansyon

How to get involved

Each November heralds the sacred and spectacular celebration that is Fèt Gede – a raucous, bawdy, fiery festival that embodies many of the essential elements of Haitian culture, all splashed with bright paint, spicy food, strong drinks, and the rhythm of people’s feet on the pavement.

Fet Gede rituals are held throughout November but are concentrated on November 1 and 2. The biggest and brashest parade happens in Port-au-Prince at The Grand Cemetery, or ‘Grand Cimetière’. If you’re travelling by car, be prepared for the enormous crowds that make it impossible to get near the cemetery – you won’t find a place to park, but a chauffeur should be able to get close enough to at least stop and let you out. Entrance is through the main gates, which reads “Souviens-Toi Que Tu Es Poussiere” (“remember you are dust”).

Written by Jean Fils and translated by Kelly Paulemon.

Published October 2019

Explore Haitian Vodou & Spiritualism

Ten of the Best Books about Haiti

December 21, 2019 by admin

A woman wearing a bikini relaxes in a window holding a book — Relaxing in a window in Haiti
Photo: Amanacer / Emily Bauman

The 10 books you should read before you visit Haiti

Cosy up with these ten books that explore the fascinating stories of Haiti.

Did you know that in Haitian vodou, a healer and a sorcerer are two completely different things? There are so many things to learn about Haitian culture and history that sometimes, the details slip between the fingers. The best way to catch them? Get comfortable with a good book!

Planning a visit to Haiti, or just want a closer understanding of this “land with a soul”? Here are the top 10 books that explore the fascinating history and culture of Haiti.

Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain

For those of us who love literature, nothing replenishes our sense of self or our faith in humanity like a good novel. Speaking of humanity, Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain, published in 1944 just a few months before the death of its author, is a Haitian literary classic par excellence.

Masters of the Dew is a deeply powerful story of traditional life in rural Haiti, overshadowed by the natural world but illuminated by human struggles. The novel touches on the necessity for a man to confront adversities great and small, from the need for freedom and a future for an entire population, to the need for water, soil and silk. Masters of the Dew is a parable of sorts, and compelling argues that the most beautiful mathematical equation is an addition.

Roumain was deeply invested in politics, and is famous in Haiti for founding one of the nation’s most important institutions for cultural preservation, the National Bureau of Ethnology, as well as resisting American occupation and advocating for Marxism. In fact, it was only thanks to the help of Roumain’s friends in France, André Breton and Aragon (both antifascists and members of the French surrealist movement), that Masters of the Dew was able to see the light of day in France.

We can’t mention Jacques Roumain without introducing another Jacques (and another of Haiti’s great novelists) – Jacques Stephen Alexis.

General Sun, My Brother by Jacques Stephen Alexis

Son of Haitian diplomat and novelist Stephen Alexis (1889–1962), Jacques Stephen Alexis distinguished himself early in life as a brilliant writer and politician. Another outspoken Marxist and close friend of the French surrealists, Jacques Stephen Alexis was already a respected thinker when he published his debut novel, General Sun, My Brother.

The story follows the life of two Haitian laborers from the slums of Port-au-Prince to the cane fields of the Dominican Republic, where they find themselves swept up into one of the most nightmarish moments in the diplomatic history of Hispaniola: the 1937 massacre. Strongly inspired by Roumain’s Masters of the Dew, General Sun, My Brother is a call to action, a refusal of passivity.

In the Flicker of an Eyelid by Jacques Stephen Alexis

Building on the acclaim of his debut novel, In the Flicker of an Eyelid propelled Alexis to his reputation as a genius writer. Another pillar of the Haitian classical canon, In the Flicker of an Eyelid is considered the most beautiful romance novel in Haitian literature. The story begins in a bordello in Port-au-Prince, but don’t let that mislead you – more than just a love story, this novel interweaves lessons about love, doubt, politics, social consciousness, patriotism, and the passage of time.

Rires et Pleurs (Laughs and Cries) by Oswald Durand

If you’re open to poetry and get sentimental about sunsets, reach for Rires et Pleurs (Laughs and Cries). Rires et Pleurs carries in it all of the symbolic weight of a people freshly liberated and on a quest for beauty. Oswald Durand is to poetry what Alexis is to novels.

Les Cinq Lettres by Georges Castera

“It is not with ink that I write to you but with my voice of drums besieged by falling stones”

Has a man loved before like Georges Castera in Les Cinq Lettres? “Love me like a burning house” is the poet’s request in this collection, and if you love French poetry then you and Les Cinq Lettres will get on like a house on fire.

So Spoke the Uncle by Jean Price-Mars

Want to learn more about Haitian culture and identity through a sociological/scientific framework? You’ll want to start with the book that sits at the root of the largest sociocultural movement of the Caribbean and Africa: blackness. In So Spoke the Uncle, Jean Price-Mars preaches a return to Haitan cultural origins. After all, he says, how do we know where we’re going if we don’t know where we come from?

Today, So Spoke the Uncle remains a the go-to reference text for anthropologists consulting the concepts and events crucial to Haiti’s history.

The Equality of Human Races by Anténor Firmin

Long before Price-Mars, Anténor Firmin was writing The Equality of Human Races to show that there was no such thing as race and that black, white, brown, or in between, the human species is one being, united and indivisible. One of the biggest public high schools in Port-au-Prince is named after Firmin.

Peintres Haitiens by Gerard Alexis

Interested in Haitian art? Peintres Haitiens by Gerard Alexis should be right up your alley. With over 300 color reproductions and text including art theory and artists’ biographies, Alexis explores five tenements of Haitian art: portrait and historical paintings, nature and daily life, vodou mysticism and figuration-abstraction.

Voodoo: Search for the Spirit by Laennec Hurbon

And if you want to quench your curiosity for Haitian vodou, we strongly recommend Voodoo: Search for the Spirit by Laennec Hurbon. Neither in-depth study nor lighthearted foray, Voodoo: Search for the Spirit offers an excellent, accessible, practical overview of the topic, enriched by pages and pages of gorgeous full-color photos and excerpts from other literature on vodou.

Haiti: the Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois

“As acclaimed historian Laurent Dubois demonstrates, Haiti’s troubled present can only be understood by examining its complex past. The country’s difficulties are inextricably rooted in its founding revolution – the only successful slave revolt in the history of the world; the hostility that this rebellion generated among the surrounding colonial powers; and the intense struggle within Haiti itself to define its newfound freedom and realize its promise.” ― Macmillan

Here’s what the critics say about Haiti: the Aftershocks of History:

“Well-written, authoritative history… enriched by careful attention to what Haitian intellectuals have had to say about their country over the last two centuries.” ―The New York Times Book Review

“A sweeping, passionate history of Haiti… Smart, honest, and utterly compelling, this book is the national biography this country and its people deserve.” ―Boston Globe

“A book as welcome as it is timely: a lucid one-volume history of the nation, from Toussaint to the present, anchored in scholarship but rendered as a comprehensive-but-swift narrative for the general reader.” ―The Nation

“This excellent, engaging history seeks to strip away centuries of mocking and reductive bias. Dubois’s Haiti is a land of ceaseless activity, a ferment of suppression and insurrection exacerbated by the mercenary intrusions of foreign powers–in the past century, chiefly the United States. Dubois also traces a parallel history of bold social experiments on the part of everyday Haitians… Throughout, he makes clear how economic pressures and political crises have left even the county’s better leaders hamstrung, without downplaying their failures in fulfilling Haiti’s great promise.” ―The New Yorker

Bonus:

La Belle Amour Humaine by Lyonel Trouillot

Mon Pays Que Voici by Anthony Phelps

History of Haiti by Suzy Castor. French edition (Haiti Autrement) available online here

Written by Melissa Beralus and translated by Kelly Paulemon.

Published December 2019

More Art & Culture

Visit a museum dedicated to Vodou

September 13, 2019 by admin

large museum building decorated with snake paintings — The Bureau of Ethnology, Port-au-Prince
Photo: Anton Lau

Visit a museum dedicated to Vodou

A visit to the Bureau of Ethnology, a museum dedicated to Vodou in Haiti, is one of the top things to do in Port-au-Prince.

Near Champ de Mars at the corner of Rue Magny and Rue Oswald Durand, this museum allows you to get acquainted with Vodou and its place in Haitian society.

This is the best place to begin an exploration of “lwa” and the many rhythms and shades of Vodou. Inside, you’ll find Vodou artifacts, artwork and anecdotes of anthropological research on Vodou (also spelled Vodoun and Vaudou) traditions. Most of the exhibits are described in French.

bronze statue of taino indian in museum courtyard — Taíno statue at The Bureau of Ethnology, Port-au-Prince
Photo: Anton Lau

About the collection

The exterior facades of the National Ethnology Office house a permanent photo exhibition on several aspects of the life and activities of Haitian society: scenes of the Haitian national carnival, Vodou rituals, Vodou-infused folk dance and more.

The interior offers an equally captivating photo exhibition of scenes of social and cultural customs specific to the Haitian nation, including national costumes and their histories. Haitian artists are also represented here, accompanied by interpretive material (mostly written in French). Key spiritual concepts, from the “lakou mansson” of Léogâne (Haitian Creole: Leyogàn) to the “lakou Badjo, Soukri, Souvenance” of Gonaïves, are depicted together with explanations of their importance in Haitian society.

Founded in 1941 by Haitian novelist Jacques Roumain and run today by Erol Josué, the museum has as its mission the preservation and classification of all anthropological artefacts found on the Haitian side of the island of Hispaniola, including protecting and organising excursions to important archaeological sites. It’s possible for visitors to join some of these – just ask when you get to the museum.

bronze statue of wild boar — Statue at The Bureau of Ethnology, Port-au-Prince
Photo: Anton Lau

Getting there

Signposted as the Bureau National d’Ethnologie, The Bureau of Ethnology is on the corner of Rue Magny and Rue Oswald Durand, close to Champ de Mars in the heart of downtown Port-au-Prince.

Written by Jean Fils.

Published September 2019

Find the Bureau of Ethnology

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Learn more about Erol Josué

Interview with Erol Josué

Check out the Bureau’s Facebook page

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Explore more of Haiti’s history

Experience Rara Easter

July 1, 2019 by admin

group of haitian walking while playing on trumpets during rara festivities — Rara band in Bois Moquette
Photo: Franck Fontain

Experience Rara Easter

In this island nation famous for its festivals, Easter stands out.

Welcome to Haiti, and its one of a kind rara Easter!

Since Haiti is predominantly Catholic, you will see a lot of activity in churches in the lead up to Easter, some even organizing and leading marches through their parishes: some in Pétion-Ville, some in Lalue, some in Thomassin. For the devout, it’s a period of the year which never goes by without celebration.

If you pay close attention, though, you will notice there is another form of celebration going on – and it’s not a Catholic one.

haitian women in carnival decorations with trumpets — Rara band playing on vaksins
Photo: Kolektif 2 Dimansyon

History

In colonial times, from the moment they were unloaded from trade ships onto the island, slaves had to fight for everything: their survival, their freedom, and their culture. Because the first two were a harder, more substantial battle for them to win, they had to fight it every day until independence was won.

The cultures and languages they brought with them across the seas were viciously oppressed, and holding onto these was hard for people already fighting for survival and freedom. Slave masters were intent on ridding slaves of any thought, idea, or behavior that might make them think they were human.

When the Spanish colonised the island, they brought the Catholic calendar with them, and it remained standard on the island. The slave class found a way to keep their spiritual beliefs and practices alive by realigning their own traditions to match the timing of Catholic ones.

All throughout lent, slaves convened, but not to decide what they would give up. They convened in order to take something back – the musical traditions from their homelands, which they couldn’t normally risk under the watchful eye of the slave masters. During lent, musicians gathered and made music together, adapting customary instruments, traditions and narratives to their new life. Late at night, meeting in secluded locations, they found ways to celebrate their culture in all of its bright, bold loudness. Vodou was often a part of this celebration. Joining music and vodou together, a renewed and newly unified culture and religion arose.

This was the birth of rara, and the tradition is still alive and well in modern-day Haiti, and takes to the streets more boldly than ever before.

How to experience rara Easter

If you are staying in Haiti around Easter, rara band performances usually begin around Ash Wednesday and end with a bang on Easter Sunday. The artist lineup is never publicly announced, but you can catch them playing, dancing, laughing, and running through the streets of Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haïtien, Jacmel, Jérémie and more.

The sound of a rara band is unmistakable. A driven rhythm of drums, layered underneath a melody played on a couple of vaksin, a trumpet conventionally made from hollowed bamboo, but more often made of metal. You will hear the fast-paced scratching of the graj, against the loud, steady voices of people singing, stomping and dancing down the street.

As Martin Mull once put it, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. The spirit of rara is impossible to capture in words, so you’ll just have to come and see for yourself.

Written by Kelly Paulemon.

Published July 2019

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Dondon grottoes

The grottoes

Discover Sacred Vodou Symbols!

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start your day the Haitian way

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On the trail of the Vodou pilgrimage to Saut d’Eau

Every year, this one-of-a-kind Vodou pilgrimage brings together crowds of the devoted and the curious

Discover Sacred Vodou Symbols!

The Miraculous Virgin of Saut d’Eau

How to invoke the favor of the Miraculous Virgin

Bring Haiti’s Mystical Art Home!

Make a pilgrimage of your own

The Most Beautiful Places to Visit in Haiti

Explore Haiti’s Art & Culture

Paradise for your inbox

Fèt Gede – the Haitian Day of the Dead

Fèt Gede – the Haitian Day of the Dead – is an annual tradition when practitioners of vodou parade through the streets, possessed by the spirits of the dead (gede)

a touch of haitian wisdom

Vodou, lwa and gede

From Our Land to Your Home

Party in the cemetary

How to get involved

A Visual Guide to Vodou Symbols

Explore Haitian Vodou & Spiritualism

Paradise for your inbox

The 10 books you should read before you visit Haiti

Cosy up with these ten books that explore the fascinating stories of Haiti.

a touch of haitian wisdom

Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain

General Sun, My Brother by Jacques Stephen Alexis

In the Flicker of an Eyelid by Jacques Stephen Alexis

a touch of haitian wisdom

Rires et Pleurs (Laughs and Cries) by Oswald Durand

Les Cinq Lettres by Georges Castera

So Spoke the Uncle by Jean Price-Mars

The Equality of Human Races by Anténor Firmin

Peintres Haitiens by Gerard Alexis

Voodoo: Search for the Spirit by Laennec Hurbon

Haiti: the Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois

Bonus:

Haitian Cultural Traditions You Didn’t Know About

More Art & Culture

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Visit a museum dedicated to Vodou

From Our Land to Your Home

About the collection

Getting there

Find the Bureau of Ethnology

External Links

Haitian Cultural Traditions You Didn’t Know About

Explore more of Haiti’s history

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Experience Rara Easter

In this island nation famous for its festivals, Easter stands out.

History

The Birds of Haiti on Your Wall

How to experience rara Easter

A Visual Guide to Vodou Symbols

Explore more festivals and events

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Plan Your Trip

Destinations

Information

Company

Plan Your Trip

Destinations

Information

Company

Select Language

start your day
the Haitian way

A Visual Guide to
Vodou Symbols

a touch of
haitian wisdom

A Visual Guide to
Vodou Symbols

a touch of
haitian wisdom

a touch of
haitian wisdom

A Visual Guide to
Vodou Symbols