Haiti’s History 5000 BCE - 1780
5000 BCE First inhabitants, the Tainos and Arawak 300 BCE 1492 Farming villages Christopher Columbus sighted established Haiti and renamed it La Isla Española (later Anglicized as Hispaniola)
1492-1514 1697 1780 Enslaved natives, European The Treaty of Rijswijk: “Creation of Santo Became France’s most prosperous New World diseases and brutal working Domingo (Spanish Eastern Half) and Saint possession, exporting Sugar, smaller amounts of conditions (pop. 100 000-30 Dominigue (French Western Half).” Spain coffee, cacao, indigo, cotton. (2/3 of France’s 000) giving the western half after exhausting gold foreign investments) cause of soil erosion mines (European investors and landowners unconcerned or unaware of long-term consequences) 1789 - 1801
1801 L’Overture named “governor- general for life”
1791 1793 Dutty Boukman, a Jamaican-born Haitian voodoo priest, Léger Félicité Sonthonax (sent from conducted a ceremony at the Bois Caïman during which France), maintain order, abolished he prophesied that a massed rebellion would at last slavery (L’Overture agreed to fight for 1789 free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. A wild animal was French for this - http://en.wikipedia. Saint-Domingue, society deeply fragmented by sacrificed and Boukman urged them to take bloody org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution), joined colour skin, class and gender. revenge on their French oppressors. French revolution his army - Grands blancs (Elite merchants, Landowners, granted citizenship to wealthy affranchis, Europeans Royal Lineage) refused with the law - Petits blancs (overseers, craftsmen) 1792 - Blancs menants (Labourers/peasants) Granted citizenship to all affranchise - Affranchis (free mulattoes (mixed white&black)/ black slaves) - Maroons (escaped slaves, fought guerrilla battles against colonial militia) 1802 - 1809
1802 1803 1804 1806 After defeating General Leclerc, agreeing to an truce (but Death of Toussaint Louverture, Declaration of independence the Arawak derived Civil war broke out between Christophe broke it and imprisoned in France) French withdrew but maintained name Haiti (Ayiti – Mountainous Land) and Alexandre Sabès Pétion (based at Jean-Jacues Dessalines/Henry Christophe led a black their presence until 1809 Port-au-Prince) army 1809 Spanish (with British help restored rule in Santo Domingo) 1811 - 1859
1822 Jean-Pierre Boyer became president and conquered Santo Domingo, declared independent from Spain.
1825 France recognized Haitian independence in return for 100 million francs paid at an annual rate until 1887 1833 Britain recognized Haiti 1843 Boyer was overthrown (till 1915, 26/20 rulers overthrown/ assassinated) 1844 1847 Haitians expelled by uprising and Faustin Élie Soulouque became president 1811 created distrust between Haitians regime return to power for the blacks Christophe declared himself King Henry I, improve and Spaniards. 1859 economy at the cost of working former slaves, Unsuccessfully annexed the Dominican built Sans Souci, and fortress La Citadelle 1862 Laferrière (World Heritage Sites) United States recognized Haiti Republic, overthrown by Fabre Geffrard 1820 (encouraged educated mulattoes to join his Christophe committed suicide when rebellious government, established Haitian respectability soldiers were after him abroad) 1890 - 1956
1890 United States attempted to gain additional military and commercial privileges in Haiti 1905 US took Control of Haiti’s customs operations 1913 American business interests gained a secure financial grip and valuable credit 1915 US Marines occupy Haiti for 19 years (1934) under Monroe Doctrine (right to prevent European intervention in Western Hemisphere) Haitians believe to protect US’s own investments 1918 New Constitution that permitted foreigners to own land in Haiti
1930 1935 Haitian national assembly since 1918, Sténio Plebiscite extended Vincent’s Joseph Vincent elected president term to 1941, altered the 1934 constitution so that future President Roosevelt withdrew Marines (still presidents be elected by 1937 maintained economic control until 1941, indirect popular vote Dominican Republic troops/ until 1947) police killed Haitian labourers 1946 living near border Worker/Student Strikes opposition 1938 to president, Élie Lescot Dominican government pay 1950 a part of the compensation Colonel Paul E. Magloire elected promised to the slain worker’s president in a plebiscite relatives. 1956 Magloire Forced to resign 1957 - 1990
1964 Duvalier, elected president for life, increasing international isolation, renewed friction with Dominican Republic, mass departure of Haitian professionals 1971 Assigned his son Jean-Claude (at 19, aka “Baby Doc”) to be president for life, sought international respectability, Repression diminished, US aid, economy revived somewhat (little change)
1990 General Prosper Avril’s unstable regime ended for only 2 years, Jean- 1957 Bertrand Aristide, Catholic priest, won François Duvalier 1987 presidency from first free elections in (aka “Papa Doc”) First attempt at elections, ending with three Haiti’s History. a physician with an 1958 dozen voters killed interest in voodoo, was Unsuccessful to overthrow 1988 elected president Duvalier, in response Leslie Manigat winning considered fake and organized paramilitary Henri Namphy overthrew him group (Tontons Macoutes “Bogeymen”) terrorize the people 1991 - 2005
2000 lleged fraud elections, Préval took control of the legislature, Aristide claimed 1994 1995 Presidency again 20 000 US troops occupy First peaceful transfer of 2003 the country, Return of Aristide Aristide to René Préval Opposition to Aristide’s rule broke out (dismantled Haitian military, 1999 pressed for free-market Préval dissolved reforms) parliament
1991 reformists policies alienated 2004 wealthy elite, and General Street demonstrations, Aristide fled the country in the face Raoul Cédras deposed of rebel revolt, loss of US/French Support. (Conflicts between him and began to repress supporters and rivals leading to death, international accusations political opposition. Tens of human rights abuses) of thousands of Haitians 2005 attempted to flee in small presidential elections delayed from crime, kidnappings, gang boats to Florida activity 1991 - 2005
2006 51 percent Haitians voted for Préval, parliament rejected Préval’s nominations for prime minister
2008 2010 800 Haitians killed, hundreds of thousands displaced from Haiti earthquake, leaving 1.5 million homeless hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding Voodoo Rada Altar Petro (Petwo) Altar - There is a misconception on Voodoo being evil, but it the religion focuses on respect and peace. - Voodoo has been past down from generation to generation through “oral tradition” with no main holy book or beliefs and rituals. Each region has their own distinct differences. -The religion even has differences in a city or village, where followers may have been contacted by spirits and Ioa that can vary. - Voodoo has been practiced as long as 6,000 years and originated began in the African kingdoms of Fon and Kongo. Voodoo translated means the “sacred spirit or deity”. Priestess who are called mambo or manbo translates to “mother” or “magical charm” and “healer” which is still used today.1 - Voodoo believes in various gods and spirits that affect people’s lives in a day to day basis. - Some of thsee activites are: - Worhship of ancestors, past leaders and deceased family members - Rituals (animal sactifices, magical objects, dancing, music, costumes) - Rituals are done outdoors using tha natural landscape - Priests who are considered community leaders help the communty by providing guidance, settling arguements and folk medicine. - Those who want to be Priests enter religious centers and are intiated by in isolatioin for three days and nights to symbolize dying and resurrection. - Intiates learn the various dieites, colours, and rituals to communicate with the loa. - The darkside of Voodoo is bo, intiates learn about it in order to counter act it. - The slaves that were brought to Haiti by the Spanish were forced to be devoted to Christianity. - The slaves took the elements of Catholicism and blended it with Voodoo to still be able to keep their religion. - The similarities in Catholic saints and loa were used relate to their own beliefs. - Even religious holidays became the holidays for Voodoo where celebrations of festivals take place. - The hynms and prayers became part of Voodoo as well. - The native Taino also influenced the slaves’ religion creating Haitian Voodoo that is Creolozied. - The objects used in rituals today have become part of the Haitian artwork and crafts. Some Haitian artists have even interepreted the different dieities on how they might look. - Taking the original African word for the darker side of Voodoo “bo” “Bokors’ are sorcerers who are part of the zombie tradition. In western culture this is called Hoodoo. - Voodoo is divided by two types: - Rada: peaceful worship of the happy loa; white magic. - Petro (Petwo): black magic. The angry loa. Petro is reported to represent only 5% of all Voodoo practiced. Black magic is related to Voodoo like Satanism is related to Christianity.4 - Voodoo is a fatalistic religion. Belief that your destiny is controlled by these spirits and only by contacting them can you control your destiny Voodoo Dieities & Spirits
Agwe: Sovereign of the sea. One of the many lovers of Erzulie. Akaza Mede (Azacca): This is the loa of agriculture. Zaka is greatly respected He is the protector of seafaring men. Depicted as a mulatto with by the peasants since he is a very hard worker. By nature he is suspicious, fair skin and green eyes. Services take place near seas, rivers, out for profit, fond of quibbling, and has a fear and hatred of town folk. He or lakes.A conch shell is used to call him during a voodoo is known for his gossip he spreads and for his “girl chasing.” He is young ritual. In connection with Christianity, Agwe has borrowed traits and like to play when not working. His favorite drink is white rum and his from St. Ulrich, who is often pictured with a fish in his hand. tree is the avocado. He notes who is treating whom in what manner, who is flirting with whom, who says what to whom etc.
Ayizan: She protects the markets, public places, doors, and Baron Samedi (Ghede): Controlling the eternal crossroads. Known as the spirit barriers, and has a deep knowledge of the intricacies of the of death. Loa of death, sexuality, and keeper of the cemeteries. The Guedes spirit world. Her favorite tree is the palm tree. She is one of live in cemeteries and visit Catholic churches at night. On November 2 the the oldest gods and is therefore entitled to first offerings at faithful visit cemeteries and light candles in honor of Baron Samedi. Guede services. She will punish those adults taking advantage of the is a much loved loa because his appearance always brings laughter and joy, young, the rich of the poor, the strong of the weak and the singing and dancing; he is usually the last to appear at a ceremony.Another husband of the wife. She is believed to have the ability to of Ghede’s great powers is as the protector of children. Ghede generally does purify her surroundings and to exorcise malevolent spirits. not like to see children die. They need a full life. Thus he is the loa to go to when seeking help for a sick child.
Bosou Koblamin: A violent loa capable, very popular during times Maman Brigitte: is a death loa, the wife of Baron Samedi. Maman Brigitte is of war. He protects his followers when they travel at night. one of the few Loa who are white and is depicted as being fair-haired and Each horn has a meaning: strength, wildness, and violence. Not green-eyed with light European skin. She drinks hot peppers and is symbolized a very reliable loa. When a service is held, Bosou appears by a black rooster. Like Baron and the Ghede, she uses obscenities.She by breaking chains that he is restrained. Immediately upon protects gravestones in cemeteries if they are properly marked with a cross. A appearing he is given a pig, his favorite food. The ceremony New World loa, Maman Brigitte is syncretized with the Irish Saint Brigid, who in honor of Bosou always pleases a congregation because it is associated with fire. allows them to eat. Usually a good number of people attend such a service.
Brise: Brise is a loa of the hills. He is boss of the woods. Dumballah (Damballah, Danbala&Ayida): Known as the serpent god. Dumballah Brise is very fierce in appearance. He is very black and has is the father figure. He haunts rivers, springs, and marshes. He and his wife, very large proportions. Brise is actually a gentle soul and likes Aiyda are often shown as two snakes which represent human fertility. It is children. Brise lives in the chardette tree and sometimes assumes believed that if respects are paid to him by a married couple, he will keep the form of an owl. Brise is a protectorate. He is strong and them happy. He is the bringer of rain; this is a necessity for good crops. His demanding and accepts speckled hens as sacrifices. favorite tree is the bougainvillea. Dumballah sustains the world and prevents it from disintegrating. He is one of the oldest of the ancestors and is so sacred that he doesn’t speak.
Erzulie (Ezili Freda): goddess of the word, love, help, goodwill, health, beauty and fortune, as well as goddess of jealousy, Gran Boa: Lives in the deep forest where the vegetation is wild. He is the vengeance, and discord. She is usually known as a serpent protector of wildlife, and does not like to be seen. He eats fruits and vegetables that coiled upon itself lives on water and bananas.She is the all day in the woods and when called in a ceremony, he is usually not hungry ability to conceptualize, the ability to dream, the artistic ability but the people always have food for him anyway. He is the loa that must be to create.In every sanctuary there is a room, or corner of a called upon before one is ordained into voodoo priesthood. room, dedicated to her. She is, in the end, one who suffers the burden of the world’s sorrows. She is closely associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and her symbol is the heart. Kalfu (Carrefour, Kalfou): Kalfu controls the crossroads as well, Legba: He is the origin of life, so He is the first loa to be called in a service, so controling the evil forces of the spirit world. He allows the that he can open the gates to the spirit world and let them communicate with other crossing of bad luck, deliberate destruction, misfortune, injustice. loa. He is the god of destiny and is also the intermediary between human beings Legba controls the positive spirits of the day. Kalfu controls and divine gods. He is the guardian of voodoo temples, courtyards, plantations, and the malevolent spirits of the night. He is the grand master of crossroads, and homes. It is believed that you pray to Legba for protection from harm charms and sorceries and is closely associated with black magic. and a safe return home. His symbol is the sun and all that is good. His favorite Ceremonies are often held at the crossroads. tree is the medicinier-bebi. He is represented by a wooden or iron phallus mounted in a little mound of earth in front of every house. Legba is also known to hold the “key of the spiritual world”, and therfore identified with the Christian St. Peter.
Loco: The spirit of vegetation and guardian of sanctuaries. The Marasa: Twins who died in their early childhood and are innocent and capricious. god of healing and patron of the herbs, doctors who always They are thought to be orphans with no discipline. They eat from twin plates and invoke him before undertaking a treatment. It is said that they eat all of what they are offered at once, always coming very hungry to the Houngans and Mambos receive their knowledge from Loco. He is ceremonies. They must be fed until they are content and then they will listen to the known for his good judgment; often during conflicts he is called people. They have a reputation for doing harm to those who have forgotten to provide in to be judge. He is known for his intolerance of injustice. He food or who have not kept their promises, but also refuse to take responsibility for is the personification of the trees he is so closely associated any wrong doing or illnesses. Having twins are said to be sacred in Voodoo. with The Ceiba tree (Antillean silk-cotton tree and the tallest species in Haiti). Offerings to it are put in straw bags and hung from the branches.
Ogoun: The mighty, powerful, triumphal. An image of where struggle is in modern Obatala: Obatala is a sky loa. He is the loa responsible for Haiti. It is Ogoun (Ogu) who is said to have planted the idea and led and given forming children in the womb. Thus, Obatala is responsible for power to the slaves to the 1804 revolt and freedom. He is called now to help birth defects. He is also called king of the white cloth, and people obtain a government more responsible to their needs. Ogoun is the deity of all his followers wear white. Obatala’s favorite food is edible fire and “metallurgical elements” Often this rum is poured on the ground then lit snails. and the flames pervade the peristyle. His favorite tree is the mango tree. Ogoun is identified with St. Jacques, the warrior general, and is often in the guise of a revolutionary war general. Ogoun the wounded warrior. Here he even assumes a Christ-figure pose which the people know well from their Christian associations.
Petro: Comes from a new nation of spirits forged directly in the Rada: The loa that represents the emotional stability and warmth of Africa, the steel and blood of the colonial era. They reflect all the rage, hearth of the nation. Rada derived almost directly from the Dahomean deity is highly violence and delirium that threw off shackles of slavery. The religious in nature; rite is never celebrated without the performance of Mahi dances drums, dancing, and rhythm are offbeat sharp, and unforgiving, and without honoring and invocation of Nago gods. The Rada drumming and dancing like the crack of a rawhide whip. is on beat whereas the Petro is offbeat. Rada stands for light and the normal affairs of humanity.
Simbi: The guardian of the fountains and marshes, where rituals Sobo: The symbol of strength, the ideal of voodoo priests who want to be respected are held near springs. Spends a lot of time learning about the figures in their communities. Because of the strength he procures for his followers, nature of illnesses of supernatural origin and how to treat them. Sobo’s presence is continually requested to bring security and protection to the He lives in springs and rivers. He cannot stand being away congregation. He who is with Sobo is protected against wild spirits. Sobo is said from water; children who go to fetch water at springs run the to have healing power and is often called upon to cure illness of the supernatural risk of being kidnapped to work for him under the water for a origin to his devotees. few years, gifting them with second sight for their trouble. http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/biglist.htm Activities Sports In most of the Caribbean, there is only one question: Cricket or baseball? In Haiti you will just meet a blank stare because this country is all about soccer. You can see soccer game everywhere. There is professional league which is called as Digicel Premiere Division from November to May. Haitians do not generally have access to the types of organized recreational activities prevalent in other countries, and sporting facilities are limited. Nevertheless, they celebrate a colourful pre-Lenten Carnival—although perhaps not as elaborately as in other Caribbean nations. Sports and gambling tend to go hand in hand in Haiti. Card games and dominoes are popular pastimes, but the most passion-inspiring gaming is provided by cockfighting, which takes place every Sunday in almost every village and neighbourhood across the country. Considerable sums of money pass hands at these gatherings, and a successful trainer can become a powerful figure in the community. Another popular form of gambling is borlette, a street-corner lottery found throughout the country. Football (soccer) draws sizable crowds to matches in Port-au-Prince, as well as to potholed city streets and rural roads. In 1974 Haiti became the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the World Cup finals, and some Haitian footballers, such as Joe Gaetjens, have played for teams in the United States and Europe. Haiti’s elite class has produced a handful of international-level tennis players, and cycling is popular among those who can afford bicycles. Swimming is more accessible to ordinary Haitians.
Media
Radio is the most important media in Haiti. Traditionally French-only, many stations now broadcast in Creole. Independent media continues to faces a number of challenges. Many radio and print media outlets are owned by people operation in Haitian politics, and are not always welcoming of investigative journalism. Most Haitian websites are written in French. News sites in English are often highly parisan. Festivals Carnival in Haiti
Carnival in Haiti is the special time of the year when millions of Haitians across the small Caribbean Island and Diaspora come together. Carnival is one of the most renowned festivals in Haiti when everybody comes alive with parade colors, music and dance. Carnival in Haiti starts in late January and continues till February. Haiti Carnival marks the beginning of one the holiest times of the year. It leads to a time of repentance and abstinence. During this period, millions of people pray for forgiveness and rebirth. Carnival in Haiti concludes on the day of Mardi-Gras, also known as Fat-Tuesday. This day is named after the custom of consuming all kinds of fats at home before the Easter season. The Wednesday that follows Mardi-Gras, is known as Ash Wednesday. This festival is marked by spectacular parades that feature floats, pageants, masked balls, elaborate costumes, seductive music and many more.
Drapo Art in Haiti
One of the popular Haiti festivals is Drapo Art. It is a religious festival that is celebrated in the country on a small scale. The followers of the Voodoo religion usually celebrate this festival. To mark the festivities, voodoo flags are painted and are beautifully adorned. The paintings that are made on the flags are regarded as sacred.
Take Action in Haiti
Take Action is one of the non-religious festivals of Haiti. This festival provides a mental boost to the Haitians. Take Action is actually a day when one can witness the charitable action of distributing clothes and food materials to different houses.
Krik! Krak! Festival in Haiti
The Krik! Krak! Festival is also one of the well known festivals in Haiti. It is a family oriented Haitian festival that generally revolves around music, songs, dance and riddles. This festival gives the Haitians an opportunity to rejoice and get mentally charged up.
Rara Festival
Rara Festival was originated in Haiti and it is celebrated on every Easter Friday, every weekend during the Lent (forty days fast-according to biblical reference). This festival sums up the organized chaos that Haiti embodies. This popular festival, which is celebrated in many parts of world, is called as ‘peasant carnival’ in Haiti. It is celebrated with full excitement and joy at every part of the country.lt is renowned for wild dancing, group singing and playing the traditional homemade instruments, which builds up the craziest atmosphere and an awesome celebration to witness. Many towns in Haiti stage their own Rara Festival. They usually start at the countryside and heads towards the town by gathering many merry-revellers on their way. The town that is best known for Rara Festival is Leogane, but the festival is equally excellent in all the parts of Haiti. Tourist enjoys the traditional music and cultural Haitian dance. -Haitain Haiti has been influenced by manyMusic musical genres ranging from Voodoo Rara bands, folk music, jazz and hip-hop. The drums is the most important instrument in Haitian music where their sense of rhythm is even advanced within children. (Arthur) - Rara has been Haiti’s most unique music where people play tumpets made out of recycled metal, PVC piping and even bamboo that make single notes that are played along with drums. (Arthur) - During Lent, Rara bands celebrate the reiligious holiday by encouraging people to join and dance as they travel from region to region. (Arthur) - Twoubadou or Troubadour is Haiti’s second unique music genre where street performers wander throug the streets to earn whatever people can donate. The band includes a guitarist, a precussionist and sometimes an accordion player singing Haitian, Carribean or French ballds. (Arthur) - 1950s: Other musical influences were brought into Haiti including: meringue from Dominican Republic, soukous from Central Africa and even North American Jazz. Theses influences were mixed together to create Haitian Kompa, a dance style of music to encourage good times and parties. (Arthur) - 1980s: In a reaction to Konpa and the era of the Duvalier dictatorship, younger middle class Haitians who were tired of the “party-time” lyrics of Konpa looked at the old Rara style, revolutionary musicans like Bob Marley, the electric guitar style of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. The musicians created a grassroots movement against the Duvalier and to promote the peasant majority, praising culture and beliefs called Mizik Rasin. (Arthur) - 1990s: Further influence from North America brought hip-hop and soul music to Haiti where Haitians living in North America came back to Haiti bring the latest music. (Arthur) Haitain Literature - With the struggles of Haiti in the past Haitian Literature expresses their banishment, their wanting of a home and identity. (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins) - A distinct identity was an essential theme in early patriotic writings when Haiti became independent in 1804. (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins) - A poet, in 1838, named Ignace Nau contrasted the cold grew environment of the French settlements in Haiti to the “sky of my homeland, so cast and so blue!” (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins, 454) in the poem Basses-Pyrennes. - 1920s/1930s: poets began to experiment on freedom of the poetic language from the strict refential function to question the diallpgue of “home,” this was called the La Ronde generation. (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins) - 1940s: The themes of exile and home were beginning to shift to the ideology of cultrual authenticity in the inside against the alienating outside. (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins) - Post War: Considered the Golden age of Haitian literature where Black Nationalism and cultural authenticity influenced by surrealism and Marxism. Before the Duvalier dictatorship forced most of the great Haitian writers into exile. (Arthur) - “...Haiti has the largest number of intellectuals who have been forced into exile since the 1960s for political reasons. Even without political dimension to the experience of exile, the thematics of home and exile has had a profound impact on the Haitian literary imagination since 1804.” (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins, 454) - 1946-1986: Reassessment of the original ideas of exile, elsewhere (home) and rethinking of authencity and identity. (Albert, James and Arnold, John Benjamins) - Most of the wisdom in Haiti is through proverbs, since only 80% or more of the population can not read or write. (http://www. webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/literature/folktale.htm) Some of the most used are: - Piti, piti, wazo fe nich li. Little by little the bird builds its nest - Rache manyok bay te a blanch. Uproot the manioc, and clear the land (political proverb pulling out the Duvalier system by the roots to replace it with something else) - Dye mon, gen mon. Beyond the mountain is another mountain (How difficult life in Haiti is) - Si travay te bon bagay, mounn rich la pran-l lontan. If work were a good thing the rich would have grabbed it a long time ago. - Kreyol pale, kreyol komprann. Speak plainly, don’t try to deceive The Arts Haitian’s Art is very unique than any other country. It has unique color and style of painting, and international fame with exotic scene.
The visual arts of Haiti - mainly paintings but also sculpture and Vodou flags are an outpouring of creative force unmatched in the Haiti. Painting under early leaders like President Boyer followed the European portrait tradition, but paralled to this artists had always been active painting murals to decorated the walls of Vodou temples and making elaborate sequined flags for use in ceremonies. In the 1920’s Port-au-Prince artists started the indigenist movement, and Haitian visual arts have garnered increasing attention since the 1940s, when a group of self-taught experimental artists developed in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitian and opened the Centre d’Art (1944) in the capital. The movement’s more highly acclaimed artists have included Wilson Bigaud, the blacksmith and sculptor Georges Liautaud, and the voodoo priests Hector Hyppolite, Andre Pierre, and Robert Saint-Brice. Major galleries in the United States and Europe have exhibited many of their works, which have also influenced the designs of wood carvings and tapestries that are manufactured in Haiti but sold throughout the Caribbean. Modern Haitian art continues to go from strength to strength, from young painters, such as Pascal Monnin, to the inspired junkyard Vodou sculptures of the Grand Rue artists(it is unlike anything you have seen in Haiti, turning scrap and found objects into starting Vodou sculpture. The results are a heavy mix of sprit, sex and politics
Drapo Voudo
Drapo Vodou is an art-form unique to Haiti. Constructed of sequins and beads hand-sewn onto fabric, these “flags” bring to life the dynamic iconography of Haitian Vodou. A fusion of African religious beliefs, Vodou evolved in Haiti through generations of slavery, and borrows heavily from imagery brought to Haiti by Catholic missionaries. With parallels in Cuban Santeria, Jamaican Obeah, and other religions of the African diaspora, Haitian Vodou has significant popular appeal in Haiti, finding expression in the social, political, and private realms. Haitian Films
History of cinema from 1896-2000 Though Haitian filmmakers have a long way to go, it has come some distance, surviving dictators and destitution. Throughout the country’s history, imported films were the norm. Sure, Haiti was ridiculed in voodoo-craze fares by directors like History of Cinema in HAITI Victor Halperin in White Zombie (1932) and Arthur Leonard’s The Devil’s Daughter Historical overview (1939). But there was still not much of a home-grown cinematic movement. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola, Then, in the late 1950s, Francois ‘’Papa Doc’’ Duvalier seized power, paralyzing and in 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island arts movements and crushing any hopes for the advent of a movie industry. ‘’He - Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, was a complete paranoid,’’ notes retired Webster University assistant professor became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean, but only through the heavy and Haiti expert Robert Corbett of the Haitian dictator, in an e-mail interview. importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. ``He distrusted everyone and nothing in the country was [done in] secret. He In the late 18th century, Haiti’s nearly half million slaves revolted under was most particularly sensitive after Graham Greene published his novel The Toussaint L’OUVERTURE and after a prolonged struggle, became the first Comedians. He intensely distrusted foreigners.’’ That feeling intensified when black republic to declare its independence in 1804. Over three decades Greene’s novel, filmed by MGM, portrayed Duvalier as a tyrannical maniac. The of dictatorship followed by military rule ended in 1990 when Jean-Bertrand film was banned for decades. ARISTIDE was elected president. Most of his term was usurped by a But the Duvaliers’ animosity was not directed at just foreigners. Director Arnold military takeover, but he was able to return to office in 1994 and oversee Antonin was forced into exile after his documentary Duvalier Accused was the installation of a close associate to the presidency in 1996. ARISTIDE released in 1973. From then on, most films about Haiti were either produced won a second term as president in 2000, and took office early in 2001. outside the country, as was Cuban director Thomas Gutierrez Alea’s Coumbite. However, a political crisis stemming from fraudulent legislative elections in Or, they were politically harmless exercises like Raphael Stines’ 1975 screen 2000 has not yet been resolved. adaptation of Jacques Roumain’s prize-winning novel The Governors of the Dew. Despite censorship, several socially conscious films were able to snare the approval of Duvalier’s government. Among them: Rassoul Labuchin’s child labor fiction Anita and Bob Lemoine’s tale of class division, Olivia. Then, in 1985, Raynald Delerme, who had left Haiti to study film abroad, returned and teamed with the late comedian Theodore Beaubrun for the successful, shot-on- video Founerailles (The Funeral). Soon, other moviemakers started to turn to video, most notably Raphael Stines, with Kraze Lanfe (Breaking Hell), a scathing portrayal of the regime of Francoise Duvalier’s son, Jean-Claude. By then, the Duvalier dynasty had ended, the newly elected president Jean- Bertrand Aristide suffered a coup d’etat, and a military government had taken over. But the new leaders saw Stines’ movie as an indictment against them and lead actor Fenel ‘’Jesifra’’ Valcourt had to go into hiding. After Stines’ experience, moviemakers tended to steer away from political subjects. Soapish, sensational dramas like Jean-Gardy Bien-Aimé’s Le Cap a la Une (To the One), targeting the youth market, became the standard.
Then, in late 2001, Reginald Lubin released his digital-video feature La Peur D’aimer (The Fear of Loving), about a young woman’s unplanned pregnancy, using film-structure techniques -- such as good cinematography and a strong script -- known to global cinema but largely ignored and unused in Haitian cinema. The sensation it caused prompted other filmmakers to follow suit and spawned higher expectations in movie fans. That’s when, to many, digital video seemed like a godsend.
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