Celebration of God

On Thursday, June 15, a holiday in Haiti, I happened to look over the balcony and notice that police motorcycles had closed our street. Soon after I heard music and singing and that drew me to go out to investigate. I came upon the street scene depicted in the first picture. I discovered that it was a Catholic holiday called "Fet de Dieu" or in English - Feast of God or Celebration of God. There were about 1000 people gathered on the street listening, singing and celebrating.

A truck equipped with an assortment of huge speakers amplifying the music was the means of letting people know they were in the neighborhood. It would stop every few blocks for the people in the area to gather round. In the truck was a worship team leading the songs in harmony. It was obviously very meanigful to the gathered crowd as many were praying and singing along.

When one song had a chorus that repeated the name of "Jesus" many of the gathered crowd raised their arms in worship as well as waving flowers. It felt good to be part of this celebration of faith and I had to think of how different this was than Canadian society. First of all on a holiday shopping is a major concern while in Port au Prince not even the small convenience stores were open. Having music played openly on the streets, especially religious music, would likely have required numerous permits to be obtained first, if they would even be granted. Then would people have come out of their homes to worship and celebrate on the streets in an obvious display of spiritual vibrancy and dedication to God? Most likely not.

One way the celebration was similar to Canada was the way street vendors were able to take advantage of a great selling opportunity with the gathered crowds. This man makes snow cones and these individuals with their carts are familiar all over the city. In the center of the cart is a large block of ice covered by a sheet of plastic to try to keep it from melting too quickly. When he has an order he uses a small tool to scrape the ice into shavings which he puts into a plastic cup. Several filled cups are visible on the top right side of the cart. When he has made the desired number he then asks which flavor of snow cone they desire and the bottles all around the cart contain a great variety of colored and flavored syrups. This is poured on the shaved ice and the snow cone is complete. A great treat on a hot day in any country!