General Background Haiti occupies the western portion of the Island of Hispagnola which was named
Kyskeya, Bohio (land, country, habitat) or Haiti (mountainous land) by its original Tainos/Arawaks inhabitants. The eastern part of the island is occupied by the Dominican Republic
The island of Kyskeya (Hispagnola or Espagnola) is the second largest of the greater Antilles. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage on December 6 1492. According to Columbus Log book, he came to the
Island after discovering Cuba. From the southern tip of Cuba, he sailed on a south east direction and landed on the northwestern tip of Hispagnola (Kyskeya). History The impressions of Columbus on his first contact with the island are recorded on his log book.
Columbus Log book, Thursday, December 6 1492
"At the hour of vespers, we entered a harbor that I named Puerto de San Nicholas, in honor of San Nicholas (St. Nicholas) because it was his feast day. As I approached the entrance of this harbor, I marveled at its beauty and
excellence. Although I have praised the harbors of Cuba greatly, this one is even superior, and none of them is similar to it.......
I hope to God that I can have some good trade in gold before I return to Spain. "
On Friday, December 7, 1492, Columbus left the port of San Nicholas and sailed to the north east. On this course, he discovered a harbor which he named Puerto de la Conception. The present name of the Puerto de la Conception,
which is now part of Haiti, is Baie Des Moustiques (Mosquito Bay).
On Sunday, December 9, 1492, the name La Espagnola appeared for the first time in his log book.
"The harbor, Puerto de la Concepcion, Columbus wrote, is 1000 paces wide at the mouth, which is equal to three quarters of a mile. In it there are no banks or shoals, but rather the bottom can barely be found until you go toward the shore.
Inside, it is 3000 paces long, clear of rocks, and with a sandy bottom. Any ship whatsoever can anchor in it without fear and can enter without danger. At the Head of the harbor the mouth of two rivers discharge a small quantity of water. Opposite to them, there are some of the most beautiful plan in the world, almost like the lands of Castile, only better. Because of this, I have named the island : La Isla Espagnola."
Columbus never referred to the island as simply Espagnola but, according to Robert H. Fuson, the translator of the English version of the log book, the linguistic corruption started shortly after his first voyage. This corruption is the reason why the island is now called Hispagnola in English and Espagnola in Spanish.
From Columbus to the early years of independence
Columbus took possession of the Island in the name of the Crown of Spain, the same way he did in the Bahamas and in Cuba. After he lost the Santa Maria, which ran aground on Christmas day 1492, in an area considered by modern
historians to be near Cap Haitien, he established the first Spanish settlement in the Caribbean/New world. He built a fort with the remains of the ship and named it la Navidad. Thirty crew members were left in the fort when Columbus started his return voyage to Spain. Through this initial contact, Spain became the conqueror/owner of the island. In 1697, the west portion was given to France through the treaty of Wyswick. This treaty divided the island in two territories, one, in the west, speaking French and the other, in the east, speaking Spanish.
Under France, the west portion became the colony of Saint Domingue, which, in
the 18th century, became the most prosperous colony in the west Indies. This prosperity was due to the intense labor of the slave. Around the time of the French revolution, there were about 450.000 African slaves in Saint Domingue compared to about 30.000 whites and about the same number of mulattos.
The Haitian revolution
The African Slaves of St. Domingue revolted several times against their subhuman conditions. The revolts were always inevitably crushed by the colonial power.
The resistance of the African Slave on the Island of Hispagnola (Haiti, Kyskeya, Bohio) was part of the revolt of the humanity of all those who suffered from the European colonization. The Arawack, as the natural owners of the land, were the
first. The African, as their logistical replacement in the colonial machine, became the necessary carriers of the torch of freedom.
The 400 years of struggle against slavery and oppression started since the unsuccessful resistance of the Cacique Caonabo against the Spanish invasion. It was maintained by the first recorded revolt of African Slave on the plantations of Don Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus. Cacique Henri led a
successful rebellion against the Spaniards (in the Bahoruco mountains presently Anse à Pitres Haiti near Jacmel) and forced the Crown of Spain to negotiate, through General Barrio Nuevo, and to recognize his freedom and that of his followers. In the long list of leaders who fought for the freedom of the African slaves, history retains the name of Mackandal, an African slave who led an unsuccessful revolt and was condemned to be burned on a pyre.
In the Tradition of Cacique Henri resistance, Jean Baptiste Santiague or Santiago led a successful revolt which was based on the South East of the island (in the Bahoruco-Anse à Pitres region). This revolt happened in 1781. Being in an area that was in the border of the French (Saint-Domingue) and the Spanish territory (Santo Domingo), it aroused the concerns of the French and the Spanish Kings. Through negotiation, a part of the south east was given to Santiague and
his followers
Modern historians of the Haitian revolution believed that the Santiago rebellion is the root of the explosion of 1791 which led to Haiti Independence in 1804.. Some unconfirmed historical data claim that Boukman Duty, the leader of the slave revolt of 1791, was a lieutenant of Santiague.
This claim does not match the traditional historical records available on the Haitian Revolution and will necessitate some impartial research to prove or
disprove its validity. However, regardless of the direct connection between Boukman Duty and Jean Baptiste Santiague (in french) or Juan Batista Santiago (in Spanish), one cannot negate the possibility that the successful revolt of Santiague/Santiago served as an example and, may be, a model of organization for the uprising of 1791
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Aji aya bombe
The decision to carry the final fight for freedom was sealed through a pact which was ratified at the Ceremony of Bois Caiman on the night of August 21 1791, more than 300 years ago. Led by Boukman Duty, assisted by Jean Francois and Biassou, the slave uprising exploded on the night of August 22 1791.
The slaves of the plantation of Trême, Turpin, Clément, Flaville, Noé in the northern province of Saint-Domingue(Haiti), near le Cap Francais ( Cap Haitien) invaded the Plaine du Nord. One of the first victims was a refiner apprentice on the Noé plantation whom they dragged to the front of the dwelling house, and there hewed him into pieces with their cutlasses: his screams brought out the overseers whom they instantly killed."
It was the first of the long series of execution done by the slaves of St Domingue to make their tormentors pay for their crime.
According to some historians the rallying slogan of the slaves was: Aya Bombe or more precisely Aji Aya Bombe which means: better be dead than a slave.
Surprisingly, this Slogan is not African but apparently Arawak. The Arawaks/Caribs who were the first fighter against slavery and oppression in the
Islands might have passed on to the African Slave.
The best proof of its Tainos/Arawack origin is that it is used up to today as a war cry by the descendants of the Tainos of Boriquen (Puerto Rico).
The struggle continued
In the subsequent battles between the slaves and the colonial forces, Boukman was killed but his lieutenants were able to pursue the struggle
The slave revolt led to the ascension to power of Francois Dominique Toussaint-L'ouverture who became known to the world as simply Toussaint
Louverture. Toussaint Louverture was the first Leader of the nation. He published the Constitution of 1801.
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François Dominique Toussaint-L'ouverture
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After his deportation/exile in 1802, the struggle continued. Jean Jacques Dessalines, a fierce General in Toussaint army, became the leader.
Jean Jacques Dessalines
the father of Haiti's Independence
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The leadership of Dessalines was consolidated through an alliance with
Alexandre Sabès Petion, a mulatto general born in Port-au Prince from a white father and mulatto woman. The alliance, sealed at a meeting prior to the start of the independence war, united the black and the mulatto generals. The unification of the Army and its goal of separating St. Domingue from France was further symbolized by the creation of the Haitian flag on May 18 1803.
Haitian historians like Thomas Madiou and Dr.J.C. Dorsainville say that the flag
was created by Dessalines. It is reported that, with a commanding gesture, Dessalines tore the white part of the the French flag and ordered that the blue and the red be attached together to make the Flag of the Haitian Revolution, the Flag of the Nation.
This gesture was done because, for the people of St. Domingue, the red, white and blue flag of France represented the white, the blacks (blue) and the mulattos
(red). As a matter of fact the Haitian Independence was more than a separation from France, it was a rejection of the white land owners known also as the Grands Blancs.
Haiti's Independence: the early years
The last victorious battle against the French expeditionary forces was fought on
November 18, 1803 at a place called Verretieres near (present day) Cap Haitien formerly known as Cap Français. After that battle, General Donatien Marie de Vimeure, Marquis de Rochambeau, who replaced General Leclerc, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, as the leader of the French Colonial Army, surrendered formally to Dessalines. Thus, the African slaves and their descendants, pure or mixed, became, de facto bello, the owners of the land of the former French colony of St.Domingue.
On January 1 1804, the independence from France was legally proclaimed. The Indian name of the island which is Haiti, was restored. Haiti became, after the United States of America, the second independent country in the American continent.
After the independence, Dessalines was proclaimed emperor under the name of Jacques Premier. His reign was short. He was assassinated on October 17 1806. After his death, the country was divided in two parts, Henri Christophe
became the leader of the north and north west, and Alexandre Petion ruled the south and southwest portion of the newly independent nation.
Christophe proclaimed himself king under the name of Henri Premier in 1811 and committed suicide in 1820. His legendary accomplishment is the Citadelle Laferrière in the northern portion of Haiti, near Cap Haitian. Although its strategic
efficiency was never tested in battle, the magnificence of the Citadelle makes it, in the eyes of many historians, a valid candidate as the eighth wonder of the world. It is a great source of pride for the nation specially for the people of the northern portion Haiti. Its is a very imposing piece of architecture. The Citadelle makes a statement of power. Its picture was used in one episodes of the
science fiction series Star trek as a representation of the headquarters of the Klingon empire.
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The Citadelle Laferrère
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Henri Christophe (Henri Premier)
the builder of the Citadelle
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Alexandre Sabès Petion founded the Haitian Republic and became the first president for life of Haiti.
Alexandre Petion
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His successor, Jean Pierre Boyer, became, after the death of Christophe, the leader of the whole country and also of the whole island of Hispagnola when Haiti
occupied its Spanish portion in 1822. The unification of the island under Haitian rule lasted until 1844.
Boyer was forced to resign and go into exile by the popular movement of 1843. However the movement did not fulfill the promises outlined in his manifesto called: "Le manifeste de Praslin" (Praslin Manifesto). The movement did not lead to the democratic changes that would have altered the course of Haitian history
through the democratic participation of all Haitians in the political process. As a mater of fact, Boyer was succeeded by General Rivière Herard who continued the dictatorial rule of the nation.
Understanding Haiti present from the knowledge of the past
The movement of 1843 was the first missed opportunity for the Haitian Republic to fulfill its natural, national and historical mandate of giving to every citizen the opportunity to realize his/her potentials. The democratic agenda set forth by the
movement of 1843 was defeated by the oppressive militaristic system that controlled the nation. Several other attempts to rectify the course of the nation were made but they all failed completely or were corrupted by the oppressive Haitian context.
At the present time, Haiti is trying, with all its might, since 1987, to heal itself from its national demon. Lots of politicians have come and gone in this short
period of time. However, amid the political turmoil which led to economic instability and a decrease of security, democracy seems to be surviving and appear to have the momentum which will eventually lead to its triumph. Observers of Haitian politics agree that without strong democratic institutions and freedom of speech, the healing of Haiti will not take place. The healing process that is going on today, in Haiti, seems to be powered by a better understanding
of the problems that have been preventing the country from reaching its potentials.
Empathic cognoscenti of the Haitian question also agree that Haiti has been plagued by problems inherited from its colonial past, from the circumstances of its historical development as an independent nation and the isolation by the slave owning, negrophobic powers of the world. In their view, these problems have prevented the global Haitian existence from defining its national identity and
starting to build itself on a solid self sustainable base. In the past those opinions of historians and social scientists were based solely on a compassionate or empathic view of Haiti. Being not rooted in objective
scientific analysis, they were not effective against the detractors of Haiti who kept on pointing to the negative results and use them as arguments for their thesis on the genetic inferiority of black people in general.
To achieve a modern non bias understanding of the very complex Haitian question, we have to take the route of the anatomical dissection of the traumatic and the post traumatic experience of the Haitian political and social organism.
This dissection would be followed by an attempt to put the pieces together and create a model that fits the present and allow reasonable projections about the future evolution of the nation.
Such a study is beyond the scope of this web page. However, we can outline a brief sketch that can used as a frame for a thesis on the Haitian question. Our sketch will contain the following parts:
1. Traumatic and post traumatic impact of Colonization and Slavery.
2. Impact of the isolation by the Slave Owning Colonial Powers.
3. The consolidation of post colonial oppression
4. Synthetic conclusion and projection for the future
1. Traumatic and post traumatic Impact of Colonization and Slavery
Prior to the independence, colonial St Domingue, which became Haiti, had a
social structure defined by two key elements: Slavery and Colonization.
Each one of those two elements had its operational necessities
a) Slavery
The slaves of St.Domingue were used as commodities existing only for the
benefit of their owners. The legal status of the slave was defined in
a French Colonial document called: "Le code Noir"
The logistics of the transformation of human beings into commodities created the psychological necessity of considering the African slaves or their descendants (pure or mix) as inferior. The traumatic psychological context thus created does not die with the masters. It can disappear only if the former slave collective has
found means to heal itself and reconnect its existence with the concept of the absolute humanity of all human beings. If not, the schematic of superposition of the value of some human beings compared to others will persist. Among the former oppressed new oppressors will emerge. Human oppression will continue even if the collective has killed or exiled all the former masters/oppressors. In the particular case of Haiti, the oppressive context of inequality and exploitation,
stemming from the traumatic colonial past, expresses it self throughout the turbulent history of the nation which has been incapable to heal from its post colonial demon.
b) Colonization
In the colonial context, St. Domingue was a human collective that belonged not
to itself but to France. As such it was governed by the King of France which was represented locally by a Governor. None of the social/racial group of St. Domingue had real political power.
The white plantation owners, called "les grands planteurs", had great fortunes but did not have the political power allowing them to influence effectively the local governance of the colony in their favor. During the French revolution, they formed
an assembly called : "L'assemblee de St.Marc" (St Marc Assembly) which did not yield the expected political clout because they did not realize that without the petits blancs, the freed blacks, the mulattos and, certainly , the mass of 450.000 African slaves, the growth of St. Domingue toward self governance/independence was impossible
The natural destiny of political separation of the colony from France was
accomplished by the proclamation of the Independence of Haiti in 1804 by the blacks and the mulattos. Haiti independence was the end of the colonial rule of St. Domingue and the beginning of a prolonged struggle for its affirmation as an independent nation which has the absolute control of its destiny.
2 Impact of the isolation by the colonial slave owning world powers
The Haitan revolution and the proclamation fo Haiti's independence could not have been, by any stretch of imagination, an event that met the approval of the colonial powers of the world. It forced them to strengthen their strong hold on the Caribbean and on the slaves. Any attempt of revolt by the slaves encountered the brutal force of the colonial powers. An important point of their policies toward
Haiti was the portrayal of the nation as incapable to achieve anything of value. After all, it was a nation formed by black and mulattos. As such, it was considered by the Europeans as essentially inferior.
In the eyes of the slave masters of the Caribbean and the United States, Haiti was a very bad example. The slave owners of the Caribbean tried their best to pass this concept to their slaves. The isolation of Haiti was, for the slave owning
powers of the world a strategic decision which was fueled by the absolute necessity of stopping, by any mean necessary, the progress of the young nation and use its lack of progress as a mean to convince the other African people of the region that black people are not fit for self governance.
This isolation of Haiti was very efficient and prevented the natural participation of the nation in the progress of the rest of the world. Haiti missed the opportunity
of the industrial revolution. The country produced lots of superb writers, but it did not connect to the opportunity for the development and the liberation of the human mind that was offered by the industrial revolution.
Haiti was one of the most rancomned nation of the earth during the 19th century. The heavy burden of the debt of the independence to France and the constant economic harassment by other world powers drove the nation into poverty. The
lack of means prevented the natural development of a social environment allowing the gradual triumph of the egalitarian ideas. The pressure from the outside helped maintaining the finite political Haitian game were the necessity to win is everything. Consequently winning politically only happened through civil war. Under those circumstances, democracy had no chance of success. The will of the majority became a casualty of the imperative of personnal survivor. National
cooperation toward a unified goal of development became impossible. Within the pressure cooker of international isolation, polemical absolutism became the only natural process possible. This kind of analysis fits very well in the schematic of the gradual emergence of the army as the strongest institution of the country.
3. Consolidation of post colonial oppression
The circumstances of the independence and the strategic necessity of defending the whole island against a potential return of the French, gave Haiti a military agenda and an international agenda of solving the problem of the claim France on the land. This military agenda led to the devotion of a large portion of the
resources of the young nation to the building of fortifications and the maintenance of a large army.
As a consequence the army became the strongest institution of country. Only few civilians achieved political power before the American occupation of 1915.
This militaristic context allowed the continuation of the colonial social schematic. The slave owners grands planteurs were no more, but an elite governed by the Creole colonial psychological matrix had replaced them.
Like the vanquished oppressors, the new elite considered it self to be superior to the masses. It inherited the colonial concept of the inferiority of the masses and used it as a tool of oppression and exploitation. Cultural, intellectual, psychological, economic and spiritual oppression became the governing condition of the independent nation.
4.
A synthetic conclusion and an opening on the future
The general oppressive context of Haiti which has its roots in the colonial past and lack of opening of the country to the progress of the rest of the world, because of international isolation, has prevented the valorization and the efficient utilization of human resources of the nation. Consequently, Haiti, the first black
republic of the world, could not achieve its natural destiny of giving to all its citizens the means to grow toward the full realization of their human potential while remaining true to their national and ethnogeographic identity.
However, underneath this picture, there has been the constant courant of the irrepresible will of progress toward the valorization of the humanity of all. This vector of human valorization gain momemtum in the nineteen thirties through a
cultural movement of returning to the African roots of the nation. This movement was, like any attempt of humanization, produced the collective Haitian consciousness, corrupted by the colonialist and paternalistic demon that plagues the nation. It produced the dictatorship of Francois Duvalier. However, it achieved the important step of opening the historical opportunities for the emergence of original ideas that are more integrated with the soul of the nation
and are capable of facilitating its sustainable development. This sustainable development will most likely be fueled by utilizing the tremendous and untapped cultural resources of the nation.
Haiti has maintained, much more than all its Caribbean neighbors its African roots. Those roots are expressed constantly in a wonderful vision of the intemporal which allows the creation of a wealth of art, music, literature which are
vivid example of the creative capacity of the Haitian people. This most important resource of the nation is what will power its future development in the 21rst century. There are some some very strong signs that Haiti will not miss the informational revolution. The progress is slow, but the country appears to be gradually connecting to the main stream of the evolution of the rest of the world. One important fact, that makes the humanistic and economic growth of Haiti
inevitable, is the greater accessibility of the nation to western technology. This phenomenon became possible because of the massive emigration of Haitian since the seventies. The country lost lots of brain power, but the link between the large Diaspora, of about 2000.000 people, and the mainland carries the potential of changing Haiti into a very sophisticated, modern, democratic nation.
Haiti is a country whose natural humanistic development has been arrested by a
set of disadvantageous circumstances. Fortunately, the sipirit of the nation was never broken. Haiti keeps on surprising the world and appear to whisper to all that, one day, it will claim its natural destiny as a leader in the Caribbean. After all, a nation that became independent in 1804 by winning a war gainst the army of Napoleon, has built the Citadelle Laferriere, has helped Venezuela, Bolivia in
their quest for independence, has produced the first black republic of the world, has proclaimed itself a safe place for all black people, while slavery continued in the rest of Caribbean until about 1886, cannot escape its destiny of greatness.
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Geography The Republic of Haiti has a territory of 27.250 square kilometers (10 714 sq. miles).
Map of Haiti
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to see a larger version . The capital of Haiti is Port au Prince. Its population was estimated in 1995 at 1.5 million. Cap Haitien, the second major city, has a population of 65,000.
The name Haiti means mountainous land. The terrain is characterized by steep mountains and coastal plains. The geologic features of Hati are part of the geologic particularities of the island of Hispaniola. Geologic map of Hispaniola
Haiti and the Dominican Republic
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The Climate of Haiti is warm and tend to be humid in many coastal areas. However, in the mountains surrounding the plains, the temperature is very
pleasant all year around. Such is the case in the mountains surrounding Port-au-Prince. People
Haiti is densely populated, with approximately 250 people per square kilometer (650 per sq. mi.). About 95% of the Haitians are of African descent; the rest of the population is mostly of mixed African-Caucasian ancestry. A few are of European or Levantine stock. About 70% of the people live in rural areas.This predominantly rural distribution of the Haitian population reflects the dominant
element of the Haitian economy which is agriculture. An attempt of diversification of the Haitian economy started in the seventies. An industrial park was created in Port-au-Prince. However, because of political problems which were inevitable because the country did not reach, since its independence, a national consensus of global inclusion and reconciliation with the governing elements of its culture, its creative power and its true productive force, the industrial growth of Haiti has
virtually stopped since the beginning of the nineties. French is one of two official languages, but it is spoken by only about 10% of the people. The other official language of Haiti is Haitian Creole. Beyond its official
status, Creole is the national language of Haiti. Although, the same language is spoken in Seychelles, Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Lucia, Haiti, with its 7 million people, has the largest Creole speaking population in the world. There are syntactic, phonetic and lexicologic variations between the French based Creoles spoken in those countries but, because of increasing cultural exchanges among them, the language is undergoing a gradual homogenization of its national
varieties into one. .Although public education is free, private and parochial schools provide perhaps 75% of educational programs offered. Only 63% of those enrolled will complete
primary school; on average, it takes 16 years to produce a single graduate of the six-year cycle. Though Haitians place a high value on education, most families cannot afford to send their children to secondary school.
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Politics
Administrative divisions
The republic of Haiti has nine administrative divisions called departments Recently, when Jean Bertrand Aristide became president in 1990, a new
geographical concept of inclusion of the Haitians living abroad was proposed. In this new concept the Haitian living abroad were included in a tenth department. The legal and logistical problems of the creation and the integration of the 10th department in the administrative machinery of the country have not been solved. The aim of the creation of this department seems to be to allow Haiti to benefit
from the economic power and the skills of the Haitian living abroad. About one of every six Haitian Nationals live abroad .
Haiti's National Palace
Government
Under the present Constitution which was published in !987, the government of
Haiti has three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.
The executive branch is headed by the president of the republic who is elected for five years. No consecutive terms is allowed but he or she can be reelected at the end of the term of his successor. Traditionally, the president was the Head of State and the Chief of the executive. However, the constitution of 1987 created a separated chief of executive who is called the prime minister. The prime
minister is nominated by the president of the republic but must be chosen by consultation with the party that has the majority in both houses of the legislative.The prime minister choose the ministers.
The Legislative is bicameral. It has a Senate with 27 seats and a Chamber of Deputies which has 83 seats.
The judiciary, which is headed by the Court of Cassation, is modeled on the French judiciary system.
BACK TO THE TOP Culture
The Haitian culture, which is reflected in the religion, the social organization and the arts, is the result a mixture between African and European culture. The
struggle between those two cultures to get control of the soul of nation is part of the keystone of the search by Haiti for its true national identity. This struggle started before the independence with the arrivals of the slaves from Africa. The African slaves were brought in as tools, raw muscle energy for the colonial machine. However, they came with more than their muscles. They came as human beings who had their ancestral traditions, their belief system and their
social schematic.
The nature of slavery dictates that the master reaches down on the soul of the slave to wipe out his belief system and replace it by his own. Slavery cannot be considered perfect if the slave still believes in his own gods and continue to use them as a source of inspiration for his action. Therefore, to mold each African that touched the colony of Saint Domingue into a perfect slave, he or she was
baptized and given a Christian name. The religious practices of the African religions were strictly forbidden. However, this attempt to wipe the religious foundation of the culture of the slaves did not work. Voodoo remains alive. The African deities survived underground and even assimilated the pictures and the names of the catholic saints. The oratory which contained images of the saints was transformed into an instrument of communication with the African deities.
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Voodoo Dance
by Frantz Zephyrin, Haitian Artist
The deep meaning of this phenomenon is that the west African context remained the governing syntax of the existence of the African slaves and was not crushed
by the brain washing attempts of the slave masters. Within this syntax, the voodoo priest had a tremendous potential for political leadership. Therefore, it was not by accident that Bookman, the leader of the general revolt of the slave in 1791, was a voodoo priest (Hougan.). He had a reputation of being endowed with tremendous mystical powers. Mackendal, the leader of an earlier attempt of general revolt, was said to be possessing the power to disappear. One can easily
see that within the voodoo context such a person would be the natural choice of the masses of slaves.
Voodoo is the cement that links together all the elements of the true identity of Haiti. It is the frame of reference through which the temporal reality of daily living and the intemporal reality of the thereafter is perceived.
Painting of Baron Samedi and Grann Brigit
god and goddess of the dead
All the other religions that exist in Haiti are defined within the Haitian intemporal context which is governed by the voodoo syntax of the collective Haitian consciousness.
Catholicism, which is the open religion of 70% of the population, has been
assimilated by the voodoo syntax since colonial times. Protestantism which is more recent and is practiced by 10% of the population, has been more successful in demonizing the voodoo deities and branding voodoo practitioners as devil worshipers. However much like Catholicism, the Haitian version of Protestantism is paradoxically shaped by the fundamental religious belief of the nation. Much more than that, some cognoscenti of Haitian ethnology have
pointed out the facts that many Protestants converts keep their beliefs in the power of the voodoo deities.
This empirical fact has led to the concept of division of the field of Haitian worship in two groups: the positive and the negative voodooist; the positive being an active practitioner and the negative being a convert that still believes in the power of the voodoo deities and might even consult a Hougan if the need arises.
The influence of voodoo is very strong in Haitian paintings and music.
Paintings representing voodoo deities and their relations with living human beings are the jewels of Haiti's art. 
Painting by Zephyrin,
Haitian Artist
The vibrant music of Haiti is dominated by two trends.
One is the rhythm named Compas Direct or simple Konpa which was created in the late Fifties by Haitian popular music composer, saxophonist and band leader Nemours Jean Baptiste. Konpa which is a fusion of fundamental Haitian music with Afro Dominican and Afro Cuban rhythms became source which gave birth to
lots of varieties and styles of music not only in Haiti but all over the Caribbean. It is, for instance, the root of the Zouk which was born in Martinique.
Click on the musical note
to hear a sample of Compas Music
by the popular artist Sweet Mickey
also called the President of Compas
The other musical trend is the Rasin movement which is deeply rooted in the rich varieties of African rhythms that are found in voodoo. The Rasin music has a stronger Haitian contextual foundation than Compas. It is the true essence of Haitian music. Its expression through modern musical arrangements and electronic instruments is noting but an opening of the Haitian African rhythmic foundation within a modern textual medium. Rasin musical groups like Boukman Experians, Rasin Mapou and Ram are gradually spreading the music around the
world. Its very rich rhythmic foundation makes Rasin a form of music that has the potential of dominating the world music market.
Click on the musical note
to hear a sample of Rasin music
by the group Tokay BACK TO THE TOP
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