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Collection A:  Festivals of Carnival and Rara, 1948 (from field notes)

Carnival and Rara are significant features of the Haitian annual calendar.  These are periods of license and entertainment that take somewhat different forms in urban and rural environments.  They have complex interaction with Catholicism and Vodou, with politics and sexuality, rivalry and power conflicts.

Carnival (PH0300–11, EH312-16):

In 1948, Carnival (Fr. Carnaval) was celebrated throughout the country, in both rural and urban areas.  However, it had its major expression in the cities.  Photos in this series are from Port-au-Prince.  Carnival centers about the activities of individual bands or associations that are continuous over the years.  A band has a master, a position which can be inherited by a son.  He owns the name and the costumes and makes decisions for the group.  A band also has a king, who is the principal dancer.  The drummer Ti Roro (PH234–41) is the king of a band with its center at the town of Croix des Missions, outside of Port-au-Prince.  He claims that the master, who owns the costumes, orders them from New York.  Some of the costumes of the kings are sold in stores in town.  They are referred to as paillettes (sequins) and many are indeed covered with sequins.  [Comment:  This seems to be at the origin of the use of sequins on vodou flags, a practice not yet in use at the time of this study.]

Carnival bands begin to practice at the start of January, building up to public performances on Mardi Gras.  Practices take place privately and in the streets every Sunday.  Photos show several bands with characteristic costumes, most prominently Les Boeufs (Cr. bef) [the oxen] PH305–6, EH312) with red and black outfits, horns above a facial mask with tongue hanging out, some with cord whips, which they swing, walking at some distance from the other members.  They also carry inflated animal bladders  

 

 

Continued

Table of Contents, Collection B | Table of Contents, Collection C

Page last revised: July 31, 2007

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