(Guest post by Inspire Haiti* Board Member, Mitchelle Pierre)
Friday before Easter Sunday … a day to pray, eat and preserve family honor.
For Catholics, this is a day of repentance and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ on the cross. Some Catholics attend special church services or prayer vigils. As a child, I attended morning prayer service with my “grand-mere” Bernadotte. It’s customary for Catholics to fast for the day, eating only one full meal that excludes meat. As a Catholic Haitian-American, I grew up eating one main meal and small meals throughout the day.
All meals consisted of traditional Haitian foods. For small meals, “confiture” (jam) or “gelee” (jelly) or “manba” (peanut butter) on Haitian bread or biscuits. For me, either jelly or peanut butter – never both together. Jam flavors included mango, lemon and guave (my personal favorite). Another option, hot chocolate made from 100% cocoa and “kasav” (cassava). I enjoyed dunking the cassava into the hot chocolate.
The main meal was the same every “vandredi sen”. My parents – born in different regions in Haiti – had the same notion of what Haitian foods where appropriate to eat as the main meal on “vandredi sen”. Regional dishes do exist throughout Haiti. However, for “vandredi sen”, it seemed irrelevant that my father was born in Gonaive, a city in northern Haiti, and my mother, in Camp Perrin, a municipality of Les Cayes in southern Haiti.
As the main dish, “poisson gros sel” – snapper or kingfish fried and then left to simmer in a lemon or lime based marinade. In my home, fried – with respect to fish and chicken – meant lightly floured and pan-fried, no batter and never deep-fried. Side dishes included “legume” – beets, carrots and cabbage in a vinegar-based sauce, root vegetables and boiled eggs.
“poison gross sel” was never my favorite Haitian dish. However, as an adult, every “vandredi sen” I still have this same meal, specifically “grand-mere” Bernadotte’s recipe. This old Haitian tradition allows me, and my family, to honor my “grand-mere”, who died in 1994. Every year when my family – including my African-American husband – gathers for dinner on this holy day, my aunts, uncles and cousins will share memories/stories about “grand-mere”. Those grandchildren who will never meet “grand-mere” are given an opportunity to experience her warmth, kindness and generosity.
What will you and your family eat this Good Friday? Do you prepare the same traditional Haitian foods – possibly, with a twist – on this holy day? How do you preserve family honor during the holidays? Please share your thoughts and experiences.
*Inspire Haiti (http://inspirehaiti.com), a 501(c)(3) public charity committed to improving the living conditions of the Haitians – one person at a time, one community at a time – by providing quality health care, nutrition and education through medical missions.
Cornbread and Cremasse 