HAITI AND CARIFESTA



 by


 OLIV2R IIUTi'Z




 ...a fairyland of Voodoo drums, strange ritual
 dance, Zonbies and rich Third World art ....

 Only whisper "Haiti" and inaioe of a dark world of
Voodoo and dlar: doings, blackma-ic, death and the grave take
form in mind. lWhisper in far away places, "Haiti is coming
to CARIFESTA" and images of people who change at will into
strange shapes and forms even animals and have a tete-a-
tete and siestas with the gods when savage irresistable drums
start to throb, take shape.


 Those who know, say that V- oo to the Baitian people
means many strange but wonderful things ... in fact some feels
it means everything.


 And ranybc it is true that of the cultures of the
200,000,000 peoples that will be represented at CARIFESTA,
that of the 4,600,000 Haitians are the strangest and the most
unique. BUt like all cultures, tho strangest are usually the
most exciting and colourful.


 It is in "Black Ballet" and rhythms of the afterworld;
in Damballa o `nce ritual and Voodoo movements portrayed by the
Ballets D' Haiti led by Lavinia Williams that the beauty of
the Haitian culture will come to life for the CARIFESTA audience.


 Indeed any troupe that can unravel the mysteries of
Haitian Voodoo in song and dance ... any troupe that can make
people of an alien world understand that Voodoo to the Haitian
people is a thing infused with the very essence of living ... is
life has done much.


 Any troupe that shows V 'd as the spirit of Haitian
folk and that it includes dances and songs and every song and
and dance has a god ... that it includes ritual for the living
and for the dead and that it loves dtruns ... that the Haitian


people... 2/