Celebrating Haitian Heritage Month

The month of May is Haitian Heritage month. Throughout the month we will be celebrating and spotlighting the beauty of Haiti that people are either unaware of or tend to forget. We will do this through landscapes, food, art, and music! We hope through celebrating Haitian Heritage Month you will get the opportunity to see the beauty that is often unknown or forgotten. Be sure to subscribe to our email updates to receive the blogs throughout May!

Let’s begin with the largest fortress in the Americas, also considered the eighth wonder of the world!

Photo by Oldjy Francois for The Haitian Times

Citadelle Laferrière is a 100,000 square feet building including several cisterns and storehouses, designed to provide enough food and water for the royal family and up to 5000 people to survive an entire year under siege. Citadelle Laferrière was constructed between 1805 and 1820, after the African-descended population of Haiti led a successful revolution to throw off their colonial enslavers and declare independence from France. It took 15 years and 20,000 people to build.

Photo by: Visit Haiti- Anton Lau

The Citadelle is equipped with over 150 cannons – mostly captured in battle from the English, the French and the Spanish – and thousands of cannon balls, once over 50,000 in total! With such an armory and walls over 13 feet wide and 100 feet high, the fortress was impenetrable.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CITADELLE, CLICK HERE!

Photo by Oldjy Francois for The Haitian Times

Sans-Souci Palace is a castle, located in Milot, in the Nord Department or north region of Haiti. The castle alongside its outbuilding was built in 1810 by Henry Christophe. Christophe was well known for the luxurious parties and feasts he hosted at the palace, and the palace’s design. The lush gardens and intricate waterworks installation are still visible in the ruins, reflecting the luxury of design.

A decade or so before the palace was built, Christophe invited Jean Baptiste Sans-Souci to visit him. When Jean Baptiste Sans-Souci accepted, he was promptly assaulted by Christophe’s guards – and legend has it that the palace bearing his name was built where he was killed.

TO LEARN MORE, CLICK HERE!

These are just a few of the amazing historical locations and beautiful architecture in Haiti. We hope as we celebrate during the month of May that you will have some takeaways and experience the BEAUTY God has placed in Haiti.

Here are a few ways you can celebrate Haitian Heritage Month: 

Learn about the history of Haiti!

• Exploring through education is one way to honor and celebrate Haitian Heritage Month. There are numerous online sources that can help you learn about Haitian culture, its intricate connections to so many parts of the world, and we guarantee you will learn some historical facts that you didn’t know before!  Here is an article that we wrote on Haitian History. 

Listen to a podcast! 

• In your free time or while you’re walking, driving, making dinner, listen to a podcast to learn and expand your knowledge on Haitian history, culture, and current matters. Click HERE to listen to the OVERSEAS Podcast by Dr Tram Jones.  Each episode, each less than a half hour long, packed full of history, culture, and current events.

Make a DONATION to do something in Haiti that will last! 

• Click HERE to make a donation to Haitian Christian Outreach.

Make a Haitian recipe! 

• We will be sharing some of Madam Pas’ recipes this month! FOLLOW ALONG WITH OUR BLOGS AND KEEP WATCH! YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THESE!

Follow Along!

• Subscribe now to our email updates on our website and follow along with us during the month of may as we continue to share Haitian Heritage!