HAITI: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE EASTER AT PONT SONDE AND THE ANNUAL "CALVARY MIRACLE" PILGRIMAGE TO CALVARY MOUNTAIN IN GANTHIER.

Record ID: 426194

  • Title: HAITI: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE EASTER AT PONT SONDE AND THE ANNUAL "CALVARY MIRACLE" PILGRIMAGE TO CALVARY MOUNTAIN IN GANTHIER.
  • Date: 25th March 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) GANTHIER, HAITI (MARCH 25, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: PEOPLE HEADED TOWARD 'CALVARY MIRACLE' (MOUNTAIN WHERE CEREMONIES ARE HELD) 0.04 2. CU: BANNER (FRENCH) "WELCOME TO CALVARY MIRACLE" 0.07 3. LV: OF PILGRIMS IN WHITE WALKING UP MOUNTAIN. (2 SHOTS) 0.15 4. SCU: WOMEN WITH ROCKS ON HEADS WALKING AND SINGING. 0.22 5. LAS/PULL OUT: PILGRIMS HEADED UP MOUNTAIN TOWARD CROSS. 0.27 6. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN WITH ROCK ON HEAD SAYING: "Calvary Miracle, protect me, I didn't call you - you called me." 0.35 7. WS: GROUP OF PILGRIMS SINGING AND WALKING. 0.40 8. WS: GROUP OF PILGRIMS WITH CROSS SINGING. 0.42 9. LAS: CROSS GOING BY UP THE MOUNTAIN. 0.48 10. CU: HANDS HOLDING PHOTOS AND A HAITIAN PASSPORT. 0.51 11. VARIOUS: (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) PILGRIM, MARJORIE JASMINE, SAYING: "I've been to the embassy several times, but they never give me a visa so I can leave. I came to ask St. James and the Calvary Mountain for a visa so I can leave. I have a a photo of my husband who is working so hard, it's killing him; I have a photo of my child who is in school, but I don't have enough money to properly care for him. I came to ask for a deliverance from St. James." (2 SHOTS) 1.11 12. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) UNIDENTIFIED PILGRIM SAYING: "I can't make it anymore, Father Emmanuel. Only you can carry this load. I am helpless, I'm responsible for the children." 1.21 13. MV: PEOPLE PRAYING TO CARVING OF JESUS CHRIST AT ONE OF THE STATIONS. 1.23 14. CU: CARVING OF JESUS CHRIST THAT HAS BEEN RIPPED APART BY PILGRIMS. 1.28 15. CU: FIRE AT BASE OF CROSS WHERE PEOPLE "BURN" THEIR STONES REPRESENTING THEIR BURDENS. 1.31 16. MV: PILGRIMS PRAYING AT FINAL STATION ON TOP OF MOUNTAIN. 1.36 17. LAS: CROSS OF FINAL STATION. 1.40 18. CU: WOMAN PILGRIM CRYING AT FOOT OF FINAL STATION. 1.44 19. CU: CHROMOLITHOGRAPH OF JESUS CHRIST BEING TAKEN DOWN FROM CROSS. 1.46 20. CU: CHROMOLITHOGRAPH OF VIRGIN MARY. 1.49 21. CU: BOWL FULL OF PRAYERS AND CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS FOR SALE. 1.52 22. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN AT HITS BASE OF A STATION WITH ROCK SAYING: "Oh God, I can't get a visa!" 2.00 23. CU: HAND HOLDING HAITIAN PASSPORT. 2.05 24. CU: FACE OF PILGRIM PRAYING. 2.07 25. SCU: PILGRIMS WITH PHOTOS AND CANDLES PRAYING AT LAST STATION. 2.11 26. WS: CROWD GATHERED AROUND LAST STATION. 2.15 27. CU: HAND HOLDING ROCK ABOVE CROWD. 2.18 (BN12) PONT SONDE, HAITI (MARCH 25, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 28. CU/PULL OUT: WOMAN DANCING TO RARA BAND MUSIC IN MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY. 2.24 29. RARA BAND AND CROWD MOVING ALONG HIGHWAY 30. VARIOUS: OF RARA MUSICIANS PLAYING TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS. (3 SHOTS) 2.36 31. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HAITIAN VOODOO PRIEST, RAYMOND FLORES, SAYING: "Rara is very important to us. Ever since we are born, it's part of our lives. It runs in our blood. No matter what, we have to do it every year. It costs a lot of money and every year we say we don't know how we will pull it off, but in the end, people all pitch in and it happens." 2.53 32. WS: RARA MUSICIANS AND PEOPLE DANCING. 2.57 33. CU: MAN PLAYING TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENT. 3.01 34. WS: RARA MUSICIANS AND PEOPLE MOVING DOWN HIGHWAY. 3.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GANTHIER AND PONT SONDE, HAITI
  • Country: Haiti
  • Reuters ID: LVABXG65GDGQI37ZLHV9GMG05A8L
  • Story Text: Thousands of Haitians blend Catholic and voodoo
    traditions to celebrate the Easter Weekend.



    Tens of thousands of Haitians celebrated Easter
    weekend with processions, pilgrimages and "rara", voodoo
    street festivals, on Friday (March 25).

    But many of the celebrations were also marked with a
    sense of desperation and sadness as people prayed for help,
    especially at the annual "Calvary Miracle" pilgrimage in
    Ganthier, located on the border with the Dominican Republic.

    Carrying passports and photos of loved ones, tens of
    thousands of pilgrims came from all over Haiti as well as
    from the United States and Canada to Calvary Mountain,
    so-named because of the 14 stations of the cross, to pray
    for a "miracle". Their petitions included U.S. visas, rent
    money, jobs or money to send their children to school. Many
    carried rocks on their heads to symbolize the cross that
    Jesus Christ carried.

    The pilgrimage tradition is believed to have been
    started by a French priest in the 18th century who set up
    crosses to represent the 14 stations of the cross. But like
    other Catholic holidays and traditions in Haiti, voodoo
    believers and the voodoo tradition soon dominated the
    pilgrimage. Most of the pilgrims who come to Calvary
    Mountain are both Catholic and voodoo practitioners.

    One pilgrim, Marjorie Jasmine, comes on the pilgrimage
    every year. This year she clutched her passport and photos
    of her son and husband.

    "I've been to the embassy several times but they never
    give me a visa so i can leave," she said. "I came to ask
    St. James and the Calvary Mountain for a visa so I can
    leave. I have a photo of my husband who is working so hard,
    it's killing him; I have a photo of my child who is in
    school but I don't have enough money to properly care for
    him. I came to ask for deliverance from St. James."
    Meanwhile, some 96 kilometres away (60 miles), near
    Pont Sonde in the country's Artibonite Valley, thousands
    celebrated another Easter weekend tradition: Rara.

    Rara voodoo bands dressed in elaborate costumes and
    played traditional instruments - many made from tin oil
    cans - as they danced down the highway singing songs which
    often have vulgar, sexual innuendo-laiden verses.

    The "Etoile Filante" or "Shooting Star" rara has been
    around for 102 years according to its leader, Houngan or
    voodoo priest Raymond Flores. In some years, the central
    government has distributed money to support the groups, but
    this year Etoile got nothing.

    "Rara is very important to us. Ever since we are born,
    it is part of our lives. It runs in our blood," he said.

    "No matter what, we have to do it every year. It costs a
    lot of money, and every year we say we don't know how we
    will pull it off, but in the end people all pitch in and it
    happens," Flores said.

    Rara runs all weekend through Easter Sunday in many
    parts of the country and, despite the terrific poverty in a
    country with 60 percent unemployment where the vast
    majority scrapes by on US$1 a day, tens of thousands take
    to the streets and dance all day and night.


    kn/jg

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