Rara (festival)
The Rara festival ( la fiesta Rara ) is a Haitian festival celebrated just before Easter. Religious rituals, a dance form and sometimes a form of political protest are also referred to as Rara in Haiti.
execution
The Rara festivities start after Carnival on Ash Wednesday and last the entire Lent until the Easter weekend. They take place in several localities. Groups of fifteen to several thousand people play drums and bamboo horns, dance along the streets and stop traffic to perform rituals for voodoo deities at intersections, bridges and cemeteries.
The festival, a mix of carnival and religion, has its origins in the time of slavery and goes back to traditions from West and Central Africa . The Rara festival parades came into being with the establishment of Holy Week in 1685 under the Code Noir .
literature
Elizabeth A. McAlister: Rara !: Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora (2002)
Web links
- Image and information
- Rara under various aspects (English or French)