Introducing Mystery Class
#4 Hello, my name is Lillian Deslandes (pronounced day-LAHND). As you've probably guessed by now I live in Haiti, but I'm not Haitian. I'm from New York. My husband and I have a factory, where we make hot pepper sauce and other condiments. I love animals and have two dogs, named "Fella" and "Wigglebutt", and two chickens. I like to walk, read and cook, a lot. But enough about me, I'd like to tell you a little bit about my adopted country of Haiti.. GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Haïti, spelled in Creole "Ayiti", is a Taino Indian word meaning land of mountains. There are 5 mountain chains in 27,750 square kilometers of space! I live in Port-au-Prince near the highest chain called Massif de la Selle, with Pic de la Selle being the highest mountain, Chaine de la Selle being 2,680 meters high. In those mountains are two historical forts, Fort Jacques and Fort Alexandre. But the most interesting fort is the Citadelle Laferrière where Henri Christophe fought the French in the War for the Independence, in Milot. Below the fort is the Palais de Sans Souci, where "king" Henri lived. I mention these forts because these days it is a very exciting time to be living in Haïti. January 1, 2004 is the bicentennial of Haïti's independence from France. Haïti is the world's first free black republic! On April 7, 2003 we celebrated the bicentennial of Toussaint Louverture's death. He was a hero of the revolution, and died in France, a prisoner. Today, Haïti is fighting a new battle with France to recover his body and the money they paid to secure their independence. In any case, there are many exciting events going on celebrating the bicentennial. Haïti is a country made up mostly of descendants of African slaves freed by the revolution. The culture is very African. People carry loads on their heads and sell in open-air markets, putting their wares in piles on the ground. People love to bargain and think you’re a fool if you pay the price asked for the merchandise. One of the largest religions besides Christian is Voodoo, which is a religion with African roots. ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND LANGUAGE
Creole or Kreyol, is one of the official languages of Haïti, the other being French. Unfortunately, I don't speak French, but I love Kreyol. I had so much fun learning it and I love speaking it! It's very colorful and expressive! When you greet someone, practically any time of day after 10 o'clock, you say "bon swa" (good evening). Nostril is "twou nen" (nose hole), and something that is very expensive is "tet neg" (a man's head). “Sak ap fèt” means what’s happening. My favorite saying is "gwo non tiye ti chyen" (a big name kills a little dog) but I'm not really sure what it means, maybe you can tell me! I must say that although I'm very busy, I've really enjoyed participating in this project. I love telling people about my home! Please write to me at hotsoslil@netscape.net. I'd be so happy to hear
from you. Copyright 2003 Journey
North. All Rights Reserved. |