Images of the devastation caused by the hurricanes in Haiti recently flashed across our television screens. But for Smithsonian staff and visitors to this summer's Folklife Festival, the town of Gonaïves, where over 2,000 people lost their lives in the ?ooding, is also the home of friends and the relatives of friends who participated in Haiti: Freedom and Creativity from the Mountains to the Sea. This program was presented at the Festival in commemoration of Haiti's 200th anniversary and in celebration of the culture, creativity, courage, and resourcefulness of the Haitian people. As we pray for Haiti's recovery, we reflect on the truly extraordinary experiences that constituted the Haiti Festival program.

Haiti: Freedom and Creativity was the largest and best-attended gathering in recognition of the Haitian bicentennial anywhere in the United States. Over a hundred culture-bearers represented the country's rich traditions, and they were greeted enthusiastically by over 800,000 visitors. Among these were hundreds of Haitian Americans from as near as Baltimore and from as far as New York, Boston, Toronto, and Miami. The program could not have been produced without the broad-based support of Haitians and friends of Haiti around the world.

Fascinated visitors learned eagerly about the expressive culture of Vodou through presentations, performances, and ritual demonstrations. The program provided special opportunities to learn from artists as well about craft traditions that have endured and been revitalized in Haiti. For example, Mireille Delismé, Jean Fougère Chérismé, and Avila Raime-Lamy demonstrated their skill with needlework and discussed the transformation of ritual and domestic needlework to meet the demands of a global marketplace. The special processes used to make kleren (homemade rum) from sugar cane, as demonstrated by Joseph Lovinsky, attracted the attention of many.

At the very popular Carnival Arts tent, visitors tried on headdresses fashioned by Milot Scutt, Jacques Turin, Tidier Levoyant, and Rony Lundi, master papier-mâché costume makers and performers from the town of Jacmel. Musical performances by the Vodou drumming group Azor, balladeer Boulo Valcourt, the old-style konpa group Tikoka, Kod-o-Bann — a women's konbit group — by rara musicians San Rankin, and by the Haitian jazz group Reginald Polycard and Friends thrilled audiences at the Festival and at the Kennedy Center. A moisson (Haitian Protestant harvest feast) and other special occasions for food preparation and presentation accompanied by music took place at the Haitian Kitchen, conveniently situated across from YonYon's Haitian food concession.

Through the hard work and inspired collaboration with an energetic young Washington, D.C.-based organization, Haitian Professionals, expert facilitation by Dr. Bob McGuire from Trinity College's Haiti Program, and the enthusiastic response of many visiting discussants, the Haiti Reunion tent was an unprecedented success. Every day the discussions at the tent explored various aspects of the Haitian experience in diaspora: reflections and personal stories about reinventing lives, food, arrivals and expectations, and expressions of faith.

The Haitian program experience for visitors was heightened and extended by the opportunity to buy Haitian-made products from artwork and books to coffee from over 20 vendors representing artist co-operatives, small businesses, and individual artists.

The Festival program had immediate impact. In presenting over $8 million to rebuild Haiti, the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, remarked that the Haitian participation in the Festival demonstrated the capacity of the Haitian people to work hard and to con-tribute much to their country and to the world.

We thank all the participants, presenters, interns, volunteer docents, staff, researchers, photographers, and those individuals and organizations who provided financial and in-kind support. They were, to a person, crucial to the success of the program. 

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