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26774: Hermantin(News)Creole troupe marks 40 years (fwd)





From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Dec. 04, 2005


HAITIAN CULTURE
Creole troupe marks 40 years
A Haitian cultural society celebrates its anniversary, and its mission to celebrate Creole culture, literacy and arts in South Florida with a performance of funeral play.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

The funeral is far from somber. Dancers, moving like spiders, guard the entrance to the cemetery where Baron Samedi, the Vodou guardian of the dead, awaits to claim the soul. As the pallbearers approach, so does Samedi, letting out a wicked laugh. The drums beat faster, the dancers' movements, more frantic.

Though mourners chant the name of the deceased, Jozafa, and declare him dead, they believe his death is the beginning, not the end. In the tradition of their enslaved ancestors, they believe the dead Haitian peasant will now return to his ancestral home, Africa.

This Haitian-Creole tragicomedy is more than a play. It is a celebration of Haiti's culture and the Creole language that only 40 years ago started to gain respect through the efforts of Haitian folk culture groups like Sosyete Koukouy, which revolutionized the way Haitians now think about themselves and their culture.

Today, the Sosyete Koukouy, one of Haiti's most prominent cultural troupes whose players now live mostly in the United States, will celebrate 40 years of preserving the Haitian culture and keeping the Haitian language alive by showcasing Lanmo Jozafa or The Death of Jozafa.

The troupe's name means Society of Fireflies, and was founded Dec. 18, 1965, in Haiti as part of an unprecedented movement dedicated to championing the Creole language, arts and culture.

''When we formed the group, Creole was patois; you couldn't speak it in school establishments and it was very segregated,'' said Jean-Marie Denis, better known as Jan Mapou, one of the group's founders and owner of Libreri Mapou bookstore at 5919 NE Second Ave. in Little Haiti.

CULTURAL REVOLUTION

``After our cultural revolution in 1965, Creole went into schools, books were being published and everybody started talking Creole openly everywhere.''

Still, there were those who insisted on speaking French, long the official language of Haiti and associated with those who were educated.

Creole finally became Haiti's second official language in 1987 within the newly rewritten Haitian Constitution.

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a linguist who championed the plight of Haiti's poor, made the teaching of Creole the basis of a literacy campaign promoting the teaching and writing of Creole to adults and children.

Today, the French Creole language and culture is not just celebrated by Haitians, but by all who commemorate International Creole Day on Oct. 28.

In South Florida, home to 245,747 Haitians, one of the fastest growing Haitian communities in the United States, according to the latest census data, Creole is recognized in other ways.

RECOGNITION

Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas made it one of the official languages used at Miami International Airport, and Miami-Dade College recently announced that due to unprecedented demand, it was creating a new Associate of Science Degree program in Translation/Interpretation Studies for Haitian-Creole speakers beginning Jan. 4 at the InterAmerican Campus, 627 SW 27th Avenue.

But for Sosyete Koukouy performers, the mission goes beyond just promoting use of the language. It's also about helping Haitians and non-Haitians better understand the culture via performances that depict life's challenges, such as Jozafa's wake, funeral and burial in a rural Haitian town.

Through the play audience members learn how the celebrations in rural Haiti take on a much more festive atmosphere, with mourners playing cards and domino games, singing, dancing and making jokes while reflecting on the life of the deceased.

''It's the best way to know and understand the Haitian heritage,'' said Mapou, who wrote the play more than two decades ago.

MIAMI ROOTS

Mapou founded the Miami branch of Sosyete Koukouy 28 years ago. There are branches in Homestead, Tampa Bay, New York, Connecticut, Canada and Haiti.

About 35 of the Miami actors, dancers and singers will participate today, and English translations, via headsets, will be provided by Gepsie Metellus, a Haitian community activist.

Ernst Julmeus, 57 and a Miami resident, said of the group's contributions: ''Most of our traditions have been transmitted orally. If you don't keep them, they will die,'' he said.

Nancy St. Leger, 47, a teacher at Coconut Grove Elementary, said the group also instills Haitian pride.

''In May we go from school to school and do shows. The kids love it so much; they love seeing the costumes and an authentic Haitian performance,'' said St. Leger, one of the dancers in today's play, and the group's dance director. ``I love doing it, it's teaching children to be proud of their culture.'