This week was only a 3 day work week, but because of holidays instead of rain thank goodness. Haitians don't typically celebrate Halloween - instead they celebrate Day of the Dead or "Fet Gede", also known as All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Since the clinic was closed yesterday and today in observance of those holidays, Alise and I decided that we should celebrate on Halloween! We printed out pictures and colored them with the 3 crayons we had in the clinic, and Alise dressed up the skeleton. Then we put on creepy makeup and played Halloween-themed songs during the day...at least we entertained ourselves! Here are some pictures of our efforts...
 |
| oh hey there friend! |
 |
| some of our artwork |
 |
| Alise & I with our version of "Papa Gede" who is the spirit that guards the dead |
 |
| kisses! |
 |
| :) |
 |
| Clerge wanted his own picture haha |
 |
| so did my translator Herold |
Yesterday I spent the day hanging out by the pool and playing Uno with Lissette since neither of us had to work. We decided that we wanted to go out to celebrate Fet Gede, and what better way to do that than to go see a live band! There's a famous Haitian band called RAM that plays every Thursday night at Hotel Oloffson. They're music is known as
mizik rasin, which means "roots music" - it's a combination of traditional Haitian vodou ceremonial music with rock & roll. Here's a link to one of their videos on YouTube:
The group of us that wanted to go out ended up being me, Lissette, Gail, John, Jake, and two of Gail's Haitian friends - good thing we brought them because it was PACKED and they were able to navigate us to the front of the line. We spent the night drinking rum punch and Prestige beer, just listening to the music and checking out all of the decorations & costumes. We even got our picture taken with a Vodou priestess!! At one point it started pouring, but it actually felt good to cool off from all of the humidity and all of the dancing. Such a cool night in this incredible country. Here's a few of the pictures I managed to take...
 |
| as if the Oloffson wasn't creepy enough, they had weird decorations like this... |
 |
| yikes |
 |
| props for the performances |
 |
| creepy hotel balcony at the Oloffson |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Dia de los Muertos performer from Mexico |
 |
| creepy Dia de los Muertos props... |
 |
| some of the Haitian dancers |
 |
| more of the dancers for RAM |
 |
| Gail, Lissette, and I with the Vodou priestess!! |
 |
| RAM :) |
We didn't get home until after 3am, so today was a very relaxing day spent by the pool. Typically in Haiti, people celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day by going to the cemeteries and bringing offerings to the Gods and to their deceased loved ones. The more I learn about this culture, the more I love it!!
xo
No comments:
Post a Comment