THE HOLIDAYS OF HAITI

Thanks to a number of people from my Haitian discussion forum who wrote in with the information below concerning Haitian holidays. This was sometime in 1999.

From Alexander Craan:
Please find most of the Official Haitian Holiday list for 1999:

Sometimes there are more, sometimes fewer. It depends on the Government Decision.

Date Holiday
1-Jan New Year's Day
2-Jan Ancestors'Day
16-Feb Carnival (Mardi Gras)
12-Apr Good Friday
1-May Labor Day
18-May Flag Day
3-Jun Corpus Christi
15-Aug Assumption
2-Nov All Souls' Day
18-Nov Battle of Vertieres
5-Dec Decouverte of Haiti
25-Dec Christmas

A slightly different listing comes from Dave Fonda
Public Holidays

Date Holiday
1-Jan Independence Day
2-Jan Ancestry Day
3-Jan Heroes Day*
7-Apr Death of Toussaint Louverture
18-May Flag Day*
22-May Sovereignty and Thanksgiving Day*
Early July Pilgrimage of St. D'Eau*
15-Jul August Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
17-Jul October Death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
1-Nov November All Saints
2-Nov November All Souls
18-Nov November Vertieres Day
5-Dec December Discovery of Haiti
25-Dec December Christmas Day

Dave Fonda also adds some moveable feasts.
Moveable Feasts Religion: Christian (Western), Vodoun

Carnival lasts a week but only the one day is an official holiday.

Other Feasts
The following Christian festivals are widely celebrated:

Date Holiday
6-Jan Epiphany
25-Mar Annunciation
27-Jun Our Lady Perpetual Saviour
1-Jul The Precious Blood
30-Nov St Andrew
6-Dec Immaculate Conception

Fonda adds:
Calendar of Vodun Ceremonies

Note: this calendar should be taken as a general calendar of vodun ceremonies. Keep in mind that different hounforts in different geographical regions may vary widely in their practices of vodun, including when they acknowledge certain ceremonies. Do not expect these dates to remain constant wherever you encounter vodun.

Date Holiday
January 2, 3,4 Breaking the cakes (case gateaux), a communal form of mange lwa
January 6 Les Rois (the kings)
February 25 Ritual feeding of the springs (manger tetes d'l'eau)
March 16 Loko Davi, eating of the ritual wood and of its guard
March 19 Saint Joseph, an expression of the jurisdiction of Legba
March 20 Legba Zaou (eating consists mainly of a black goat)
April 27 Danbala Wedo
April 29 Breaking the jugs (casse canarie), deliverance of the souls from purgatory
April 31 Feeding the dead (mange-les-morts)
May 12 Feeding of different loa
May 18 Feeding of Grande Aloumandia
May 20, 21 Sim'bi blanc
May 30 Sung masses (chante-messes) in the Roman-Catholic church
June 24 Saint John
June 28 M'sieu Guimeh Sauveur; Mystere Grande Delai; common table served for Maetresse Erzulie, Maetress Tenaise and Maetresse Mam'bo
July 25 Papa Ogou or St. James the Greater (sheep and goats are offered)
July 26 Common table for Grande Saint Anne, also known as Mystere Grande Delai and Grande Aloumandia
July 29 Maetresse Silverine (who only very slightly tastes of the food offered to her) and Maetresse Lorvana (who smells flowers for her nurishment)
August 25 Communion table for Danbala Wedo, also known as Saint Louis of the King of France
August 29 L'Orient, one of the most important mysteres
August 30, 31 Agwe (offerings of goats, peppers and peppermints)
September 25 Roi Wangol and Mousondi
September 29 Manman Aloumandia
September 30 Maetresse Delai
October 30, 31 Masses sung in the Roman-Catholic church; communion table of 40 scarves of different colors, exposed to the peristyle and "served"
November 1, 2 The Guede loa come out of the cemeteries, possess their horses and come into the hounforts to amuse themselves in the form of souls incarnated or reincarnated
November 25th Eating the yams (manger-yam)
December 10 Ganga-Bois
December 12,13, 14 Feeding the sea (agoueh r oyo)
December 25 Bath of Christmas; leaf-rubbing for medical treatments and talismans for magic protection, ritual sacrifices of pigs and goats, boucans for amusement, to which the loa come to bathe themselves and their proteges; sacrifice of turkeys for Caplau

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Bob Corbett corbetre@webster.edu