Haitian Culture In New Orleans

New Orleans is known for being a culturally rich city; from its food to its music to its celebrations it is full of spirit and unique traditions. It is not hard to pick up on this, it is what you hear across the country when someone mentions New Orleans, it is what the New Orleans tourism board features in all its material, it part of how institutions such as Tulane market themselves. Everyone may know about jazz music and second lines but many of us visitors to the city lack knowledge about their historical, political, and social/cultural context. A crucial element of New Orleans culture and history that provides a lot of this context, that every visitor should take the time educate themselves about, is social aid and pleasure clubs and benevolent

African-Americans have created a unique cultural tradition from African and European influences in Louisiana. However, religion to medical care also language. African-rooted traditions were transformed in Louisiana to form a vibrant ethnic culture. With them, African slaves brought their cultural identities languages, religions, oral traditions, and became evident in Louisiana. Perhaps the most flamboyant of these, continuities are seen in religion, particularly Voodoo.

New Orleans is an American city known for being very different from the rest of America. The differences vary in food, attitude, location, and atmosphere. These differences make New Orleans a unique part of America, and they have survived through many cases of adversity such as white supremacy, Hurricane Katrina, and many others. If events like these occurred in any other city across America, it would have caused mass diaspora and eventually the collapse of the city into something unrecognizable. New Orleans is a different story. New Orleans has resisted much of the change that has taken hold of the rest of the country. They have traditions that have been passed down and an attitude that is only at home in New Orleans.

Although the Haitian Revolution inspired many revolts made from African Americans, African American themselves were not significantly responsible for slavery’s end. However, different regions had different circumstances that caused African Americans to either have an abundance amount of influence to slavery’s end or little to no influence. The reason being is due to the level of resistance that varied depending on the location of the slaves. Many of the slaves had to depend on the number of supporters that they had to work with because without enough support, the revolts would not go well, which then would not lead to the end of slavery. “Rebellion began at the initial point of capture within Africa itself, continuing down to the barracoons, and it often erupted into mutiny aboard the slavers” (Gomez 110). This quote signifies that rebellion has always been there through each suffering; it was just never prominent enough at the moment because African Americans could handle it at the time since the torments just began. Yet, as time goes by, their ability to endure decreases having to deal with the tortures and sufferings weekly if not daily. Slavery’s end sparked when the debate over the future of slavery began. The dispute then led to secession in which it brought about a war in which the Northern and Western states and territories fought to preserve the Union, while the South fought to establish Southern independence as a new confederation of states under its own

When reading this blog I honestly did not understand the point the writing was trying to get across in its entirety until I saw the photo. The visual made the message loud and clear for me and the cartoon image solidified the memo. Both of these women in my opinion have received some sort of oppression because their look is what society has deemed acceptable and worthy of attention and in some cases a mate. Being Haitian-American, I’ve experienced both sides of this dilemma. Haiti in some ways is very conservative; some women in many areas are not even allowed to wear pants, pierce their ears or wear extensions but I was born and raised in Florida. In American culture, the more skin you show the more beautiful and appealing you are. I’ve always struggled between the two extremes so I believe I have a level of empathy for both sides. I can’t really say that one is more oppressed than the other because they experience 2 different extremes of oppression.

The culture of Haiti has its roots in West Africa, and to this day many of its people feel more aligned to Africa than they do to the Caribbean or Americas. Haiti adopted Roman Catholicism from its former French colonizers, although more famously the practice of Voodoo is observed. Voodoo has its roots in West

Haiti was isolated during much of its history, allowing Voodoo to develop with its own unique traditions, beliefs and gods. Once living in Haiti, the slaves created a new system of beliefs based on their shared beliefs, at the same time absorbing each tribe's strongest traditions and

"Two hundred years ago, our precursors in Haiti struck a blow for freedom, which was heard around the world, and across centuries." – Baldwin Spencer

The Creole Culture in northern Louisiana during the nineteenth century was made up of French and Spanish descendants, who controlled the land before the English did. This society was extremely selective and male-dominated. Men controlled every aspect of a woman’s life, like that of the Protestant religion. All things considered, women had little rights but were expected to have children and artistic abilities. This is mentioned by many characters in the novel, like Mr. Pontellier.

The Undead have changed a great deal for its original roots as a Haitian Rural Folklore to the creatures we know today. From what makes them (radiation, rage virus, and to have it already inside the human body) and to what they are called (Ghouls, The Infected, Walkers). No matter how many times the undead creatures get shot, machetes to pieces, blow up, beaten and ran down with cars, they keep coming back in films and tv, changing as the years move along.

The religion of Louisiana Creole Culture depends on the history of an individual’s family. Catholicism is the typical religious choice. The “Creole-Catholic” is a sub-culture within itself. There are some Louisiana Creoles who follow the Protestant religion. Many of families share beliefs of a tribal nature stemming from African tribes, Celtic nations, and Native Americans.

New Orleans is a unique city with its own unmistakable culture. It is unlike any other city in the United States with its vivid colors, mixed architecture, and festivals you can’t celebrate anywhere else. New Orleans was created from the port that made it attractive to other people to settle down in. Geographically, it could be considered a part of the Caribbean, since it is in such close proximity to the islands. In fact, it is closely connected to the Caribbean islands in so many different aspects such as living conditions, cultural norms, traditions, food, dance, music, and many other things. The European powers, specifically Britain, Spain and France, were huge contributors that helped shape these traditions, through settlement, colonialization, importing and exporting, as well as establishing government and structure. It connected Western Europe with the countries around the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and even included culture from Africa.

After reading and learning about Haitian vodou culture, I decided that I wanted to portray a photograph to my audience of what the ritual looks like in still. I believe this religious, traditional, and sacred ritual has been misinterpreted and misrepresented by western media. I have noticed that the media portrayed vodou as “voodoo,” in a sense where it is seen as a mockery or a a type of child’s “play” than an actual ritual. In other words, the mass majority sees vodou as a joke or something that is silly to practice.

Voodoo has had a major impact in Haiti; so much so that they have declared voodoo as there national religion.(origins of Voodoo) It also has had a major impact on New Orleans, Louisiana. A lot of New Orleans’s art and culture is based on Voodoo and it’s traditions.

I've chosen “Ghosts” because I don't know anything about Haiti's culture, and I was really interested to discover something new.