Mardi Gras 2007

Earlier last week was Mardi Gras both in the US and here in Haiti. I found the photos in this post online. The first one is an AP wire photo from www.foxnews.com and was taken in New Orleans. The other 2 were taken in Port-au-Prince in 2006 and are from a Haitian website -- www.sakapfet.com. I was amazed when I saw this photo. The costume looks so much like the ones we see here on the Plateau during Mardi Gras (see the “skirts” in the second photo). And the object in the guy's right hand resembles the rattle in the hand of the woman in the last photo – a tool used in Voodoo rites to help summon the spirits.
In fact, the voodoo aspect of Mardi Gras can been very clearly seen in Haiti. The woman in the third photo is dressed as Erzulie one of the Voodoo spirits. The designs on her skirt and on the float at her feet are veve's -- the symbols that represent her and that are used to summon her. There were many such depictions and uses of veve's on the floats and marchers in the photos I saw on the web site.

And it is of this that I am reminded every Mardi Gras – the conflict between Voodoo and Christianity for the hearts and souls of Haitians. Voodoo acknowledges and serves a pantheon of lesser spirits who run the universe for God (who is too remote and too busy). These spirits must be fed (animals sacrificed to them) so they can have the strength to run the universe. The spirits are thought to be neither good nor bad and to be responsible for all the good and bad things that happen in people's lives.
Many people say that Voodoo is an innocuous belief system or a quaint cultural heritage. I can not agree. The people in the area of Haiti that HAFF serves fear the spirits. It is thought that good things come to the person who pleases the spirits and bad things to those who displease them. But the spirits neither love nor care for any person. And the spirits are not to be trusted. People can pay the spirits to do things to others for them. It is almost universally believed that people can buy healing, protection and even curses or harm from the spirits. So the people not only fear the spirits, they also fear their neighbors, friends and even family who might have them cursed or harmed or even poisoned. That is a hard way to live never really trusting anyone or anything.

The only hope for change in the situation is for a radical change of heart to come to believe that God Himself does love and care for people, is involved in our lives and that He is completely trustworthy. Only then can people truly trust one another enough to work together in peace. Please pray for the HAFF staff – both Haitian and American – as we strive to spread this message of peace.