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Soup Joumou - Haitian Soup Of FREEDOM
Saturday December 27, 2003 12:00 AM ET
 "Perhaps we - Haitians - should tell the whole world that being the FIRST BLACK NATION is no walk in the park and we have the scars to prove it."
- Woodring Saint Preux -
It is not a coincidence that "Soup Joumou" is consumed in every Haitian household all over the world on January 1st of every year.
article by: Woodring Saint Preux
This symbol is the last symbol of unity and freedom we have left.
- We make Soup Joumou every New Year...
- We eat Soup Joumou every New Year...
- We share Soup Joumou every New Year...
- We do it EVERY JANUARY 1st of every New Year in order to remember our past, our struggle for FREEDOM, and our ongoing fight to remain free.
What better way to celebrate the New Year than with the very soup that we were not allowed to drink as slaves?
The most important New Year Celebration in Haitians history is New Year's Day, January 1, 1804.
We fought for nearly thirteen years before this day so that we could initiate this symbol of freedom for ALL slaves ALL over the world.
Before 1804, A Haitian slave was NOT allowed to touch Joumou, a delicious and aromatic pumpkin that was a favorite for her white French master.
Haitian Slave Diet: He/She was to eat one ounce of salted meat or fish and one bottle of lemonade per day.
When our ancestors finally kicked the French out of the island, The Party was on!
We fought the French and we won!
Place: Gonaives, Haiti
Nickname: City of Independence
Date: Sunday, January 1st 1804
On Sunday January 1, 1804, the Haitian slaves of yesterday started gathering at dawn at the "Place d'Armes de Gonaives".
it was there that Jean Jacques Dessalines mounted the Autel de la Patrie to speak.
He made his speach in Kreyol so everyone could understand him.
"Liberte ou la Mort!"
"Long live independence!"
Jean Jacques Dessalines declared that Haitians would forever live free and die free.
"Cannons were fired, church bells rung, people cheered, and, they say kettles of fragrant soup joumou perfumed the air, ready to be ladled up in a mass communion."
Soup Joumou
Tradition, Symbolism, or just a plain old habit?
Lately, the consumption of soup joumou has become just an old habit for Haitians. It seams we have forgotten its true history and purpose.
Soup Joumou - This soup was the touchstone of Haiti's fervent wish for peace and freedom
Soup Joumou was a symbol of communion and brotherhood
Perhaps we should re-attach the symbolism of independence to the oldest Haitian Tradition - a goold old bold of delicious soup joumou.
Perhaps we should tell the story.
Perhaps we should let the whole world know that we drink this soup on the first day of every year because once upon a time, we were NOT allowed to drink it.
Perhaps we should let the whole world know that we are FREE and independent because once upon a time, we were not allowed to be FREE.
On January 1st, 2004,
Haitians celebrate 200 years of freedom.
200 years of misery!
Perhaps we - Haitians - should tell the whole world that being the FIRST BLACK NATION is no walk in the park and we have the scars to prove it.
on January 1, 2004, we will once again make, drink, and share some Soup Joumou.
It will be the 200th serving of the most delicious soup on earth, our Haitian "Soup of FREEDOM".
You want to know how much Haitians love Haiti?
You want to know how much we love to be FREE
Just try to take it away from us!
- They may have all the money,
- they may have all the gold,
- they may rob us,
- kill us,
- torture us,
- pretend we don't exist,
- but...
- there are a few things they will never take away from us...
- Our freedom and all the records we broke in history
Symbolism or not...
The Americans, the FIRST FREE country in the west) eat their turkey for Thanksgiving...
We Haitians (FIRST BLACK Nation in the world), we drink our soup joumou in our INDEPENDENCE DAY.
Happy Anniversary... and Happy New year!
Woodring Saint Preux
P.S. Do we "eat" or do we "drink" soup joumou?
Resources an credits:
www.DiscoverHaiti.com
www.haitixchange.com
www.soupsong.com
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Reader Comments (25)
Lorvana Merius says:
Thank you i feel the same way i may be a lillte girl but my grandparents always tell me the stories that there grandparents told there mother and i am surprized at the americans because they took from us but then when we needed they left us high and dry
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Ges says:
To answer to Marie Brutus question, Haiti got its independence on January 1st, 1804. May 18th is haitian's flag day.
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Pgb says:
I love it... I hope we can have that information shared widely rather than just to the Haitian community. I love that proud from Wood... certain will name him as arrogance... let's it be... I will use a copy of your soup joumou to share with some folks... let's work together to brighten the face of our "Haiti Cherie"
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Tipiah says:
Soup Joumou was forbidden to Haitians not because French masters, drink or eat Soup joumou. French don't drink Soup Joumou neither French got that in their History or tradition. Haitians were forbidden to drink Soup Joumou because French masters knew that Haitians were Israelites and Israelite people drunk Soup or Haitian bouillon every Shabbat at lunchtime. We drink Soup Joumou every January first because it is the tradition of our people. God's people... We were also, forbid to practice our true religion the religion of God's people possessed by the Spirit of God and prophtised etc.. for a fake Catholic or Christianity that tried to copy our forefathers and they changed the name of all our ancestors like Mary etc... http://www.shalomisraelite-m-yeh.com/shabbatfood.htm
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Stephanie says:
I am about to make a speech about this topic, and your article is very helpful; but can your answer your p.s. question please? lol because i dont really know if i should say drink or eat.
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Charlot Charlemagne says:
Dear Konfrere, if I May! I don’t have to get into that, everybody already knows. The enemy is not a color or an entity. The enemy is an idea that rules in that color or lack of it. People must be able to recognize the enemy no matter what his color, because the enemy is anyone who is focusing on the idea of the enemy. If the idea is to divide and conquer, then anyone who will divide us to keep us a prey in the hands of our enemy is part of the enemy. People have to recognize the time and what must be done. What time is it? It’s the end of 200 plus years news, period of rule given to the idea of Pharaohs through Neo-liberalism, and it is beginning of the time of the rise of Konfraternité ( not Unity Community International controls over Haiti). If it is time of the end of Pharaohs, you can not go to them begging them for food because they do not have it to give us anymore without condition. We should depend of ourselves. It is time for us to do something for ourselves. It is time for us not to go to the neighbor for his education. It is time for us to educate ourselves because they are going to educate us in a way to serve them and our time of being their servant is over. It is time for us to come back and serve ourselves and each other. We must join onto our own kind and stop trying to join onto somebody else. The same way some would get together in what is called a gang because they have certain things in common. What is more common than the fact that we are Haitians? What is more common than the fact that we are the Children of slaves? We are normally and naturally Brothers and Sisters, flesh of each other’s flesh, blood of each other’s blood, and bone of each other’s bone. If there is going to be any integration, let it be from a position of strength through Agro Konbit. You can not integrate with a people stronger than us. We will get taken over. But if we integrate with ourselves and we become strong, then whomever we want to sit down and form an alliance with, it will be from a position of strength for progress through Konfraternité. It is almost unbelievable to see our people flounder in the mud, that our very educators and intellectual people desire nothing more than to remain in the "free" mental shackles of slavery with nothing constructive for themselves and for the sake of Haiti.
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Kelvin Scoon says:
"Politics of brutality"
…is the headline of a review of AN ENCOUNTER WITH HAITI: Notes of a Special Adviser by Michael Deibert. It was published in the MIAMI HERALD on January 4, 2009 On February 19, 2004, Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, called someone he had known for 45 years, former Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador Reginald Dumas, and asked him to be his Special Adviser to "monitor closely'on the ground, the rapidly deteriorating situation in Haiti. Ten days later, and before Ambassador Dumas could make his first trip to Haiti, the world learnt that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had left his country for an unknown destination and for what has since become an extended exile. For the next six months, Special Adviser Dumas put his considerable diplomatic, investigative and political skills to work, negotiating the minefields of Haitian politics, so often in the past prone to violent solutions, and the complexities, political and bureaucratic, of CARICOM, the Organization of American States, and the UN itself. By August 22, when he left at the end of his contract, some semblance of order was returning to Haiti. National elections were being planned, a UN mission was in place, and a relative calm prevailed. But he was not satisfied that he had accomplished much of what he would have liked, and he determined, as he puts it, that "I couldn’t just turn my back and walk away; I still wanted to be of some use to Haiti. Most of my efforts would now however have to be exerted outside the constricting rigidities of traditional international community behaviour." AN ENCOUNTER WITH HAITI: Notes of a Special Adviser is dedicated to the people of Haiti, whom Ambassador Dumas firmly considers to be always the central element of the Haitian picture. US Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, US House of Representatives, writes in his foreword: "…this book is an extremely valuable addition to our storehouse of knowledge. I have no hesitation in recommending it not only to those concerned with Haiti in particular but also to the general public and especially, to international and regional officials and agencies." Anthony T. Bryan, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, University of Miami & Senior Associate, Americas Program Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, D.C, USA describes the book as a tour de force that carries the reader into the uncomfortable dark corners of insider diplomacy. In so doing (Ambassador Dumas) shines the spotlight on the major actors in the drama, exposing both their strengths and their incapacities." AN ENCOUNTER WITH HAITI: Notes of a Special Adviser is published by the Trinidad and Tobago - based publishing company, Medianet Limited Paperback ISBN 978 976 95219 0 2 is available online from AMAZON .COM Ends. Michael Deibert is the author of Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti. Michaels Haiti Blog is at - http://deiberthaiti.blogspot.com/ For additional information about AN ENCOUNTER WITH HAITI contact Kelvin Scoon at Medianet Ltd.
Phone 868 622 5394; email scoon at medianetcaribbean.com
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Charlot Charlemagne says:
3 bowls of soup joumou, Are these delirious or delicious, any way in both cases (tradition every January first (Independence or Death) But:
Today, it is a need and precondition to the virtual and real liberation of our Fatherland. We should not give up the family life; it is the base of our survival and our development. It is true that the strategy of our oppressors consists in putting much pressure on us so that we drop our fight for freedom and independence. It is certain that we must preserve the family element and not plunge in the abyss, because it is the weapon of excellence for our current fight. It is the framework of our brilliant deeds as a base for our projects of scale. Consequently, this concept must be conveyed and especially clarified for the popular masses. It is the duty of any Haitian to understand the emotional load and the stakes of such a concept. In spite of the pressure of the circumstances, we must have in mind that the devalorization of the Haitian Family can only bring the forfeiture of the Country. Then, let us not delay with the out-of-date dreams, and adapt the institutions to the needs for the present. Let us leave no stone unturned to protect and improve the Family in spite of Pharaohs’ harmful action, which handicaps us rather than assisting us. In the name of the tradition of non-interference, nobody has the right to choose our destiny or dictate our management. Let us liberate ourselves from the obstacles of underdevelopment. Let us choose our own way, and above all keep this Confraternal virtue, which is the taste of moving forward.
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Charlot Charlemagne says:
"Soup joumou" is for me a reference of January the first 1804 (Independence or Death), Haiti must survive, but:
Today, it is a need and precondition to the virtual and real liberation of our Fatherland. We should not give up the family life; it is the base of our survival and our development. It is true that the strategy of our oppressors consists in putting much pressure on us so that we drop our fight for freedom and independence. It is certain that we must preserve the family element and not plunge in the abyss, because it is the weapon of excellence for our current fight. It is the framework of our brilliant deeds as a base for our projects of scale. Consequently, this concept must be conveyed and especially clarified for the popular masses. It is the duty of any Haitian to understand the emotional load and the stakes of such a concept. In spite of the pressure of the circumstances, we must have in mind that the devalorization of the Haitian Family can only bring the forfeiture of the Country. Then, let us not delay with the out-of-date dreams, and adapt the institutions to the needs for the present. Let us leave no stone unturned to protect and improve the Family in spite of Pharaohs’ harmful action, which handicaps us rather than assisting us. In the name of the tradition of non-interference, nobody has the right to choose our destiny or dictate our management. Let us liberate ourselves from the obstacles of underdevelopment. Let us choose our own way, and above all keep this Confraternal virtue, which is the taste of moving forward.
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