26774: Hermantin(News)Creole troupe marks 40 years (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Dec. 04, 2005


HAITIAN CULTURE
Creole troupe marks 40 years
A Haitian cultural society celebrates its anniversary, and its mission to 
celebrate Creole culture, literacy and arts in South Florida with a performance 
of funeral play.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

The funeral is far from somber. Dancers, moving like spiders, guard the 
entrance to the cemetery where Baron Samedi, the Vodou guardian of the dead, 
awaits to claim the soul. As the pallbearers approach, so does Samedi, letting 
out a wicked laugh. The drums beat faster, the dancers' movements, more 
frantic.

Though mourners chant the name of the deceased, Jozafa, and declare him dead, 
they believe his death is the beginning, not the end. In the tradition of their 
enslaved ancestors, they believe the dead Haitian peasant will now return to 
his ancestral home, Africa.

This Haitian-Creole tragicomedy is more than a play. It is a celebration of 
Haiti's culture and the Creole language that only 40 years ago started to gain 
respect through the efforts of Haitian folk culture groups like Sosyete 
Koukouy, which revolutionized the way Haitians now think about themselves and 
their culture.

Today, the Sosyete Koukouy, one of Haiti's most prominent cultural troupes 
whose players now live mostly in the United States, will celebrate 40 years of 
preserving the Haitian culture and keeping the Haitian language alive by 
showcasing Lanmo Jozafa or The Death of Jozafa.

The troupe's name means Society of Fireflies, and was founded Dec. 18, 1965, in 
Haiti as part of an unprecedented movement dedicated to championing the Creole 
language, arts and culture.

''When we formed the group, Creole was patois; you couldn't speak it in school 
establishments and it was very segregated,'' said Jean-Marie Denis, better 
known as Jan Mapou, one of the group's founders and owner of Libreri Mapou 
bookstore at 5919 NE Second Ave. in Little Haiti.

CULTURAL REVOLUTION

``After our cultural revolution in 1965, Creole went into schools, books were 
being published and everybody started talking Creole openly everywhere.''

Still, there were those who insisted on speaking French, long the official 
language of Haiti and associated with those who were educated.

Creole finally became Haiti's second official language in 1987 within the newly 
rewritten Haitian Constitution.

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a linguist who championed the 
plight of Haiti's poor, made the teaching of Creole the basis of a literacy 
campaign promoting the teaching and writing of Creole to adults and children.

Today, the French Creole language and culture is not just celebrated by 
Haitians, but by all who commemorate International Creole Day on Oct. 28.

In South Florida, home to 245,747 Haitians, one of the fastest growing Haitian 
communities in the United States, according to the latest census data, Creole 
is recognized in other ways.

RECOGNITION

Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas made it one of the official 
languages used at Miami International Airport, and Miami-Dade College recently 
announced that due to unprecedented demand, it was creating a new Associate of 
Science Degree program in Translation/Interpretation Studies for Haitian-Creole 
speakers beginning Jan. 4 at the InterAmerican Campus, 627 SW 27th Avenue.

But for Sosyete Koukouy performers, the mission goes beyond just promoting use 
of the language. It's also about helping Haitians and non-Haitians better 
understand the culture via performances that depict life's challenges, such as 
Jozafa's wake, funeral and burial in a rural Haitian town.

Through the play audience members learn how the celebrations in rural Haiti 
take on a much more festive atmosphere, with mourners playing cards and domino 
games, singing, dancing and making jokes while reflecting on the life of the 
deceased.

''It's the best way to know and understand the Haitian heritage,'' said Mapou, 
who wrote the play more than two decades ago.

MIAMI ROOTS

Mapou founded the Miami branch of Sosyete Koukouy 28 years ago. There are 
branches in Homestead, Tampa Bay, New York, Connecticut, Canada and Haiti.

About 35 of the Miami actors, dancers and singers will participate today, and 
English translations, via headsets, will be provided by Gepsie Metellus, a 
Haitian community activist.

Ernst Julmeus, 57 and a Miami resident, said of the group's contributions: 
''Most of our traditions have been transmitted orally. If you don't keep them, 
they will die,'' he said.

Nancy St. Leger, 47, a teacher at Coconut Grove Elementary, said the group also 
instills Haitian pride.

''In May we go from school to school and do shows. The kids love it so much; 
they love seeing the costumes and an authentic Haitian performance,'' said St. 
Leger, one of the dancers in today's play, and the group's dance director. ``I 
love doing it, it's teaching children to be proud of their culture.'