While on the phone with my mom on New Year’s Eve and I casually mention that I’ll come over the following day to have some soup joumou as I’ve done every Haitian Independence Day for as long as I remember. She casually responds “I’m not making soup this year.” *record scratch*
In all my life, I had never heard of such a thing from my mother. I tried to reason with her (i.e. guilt trip her). “How can you NOT make soup this year?” “What about your GRANDCHILDREN?!” Still nothing. I told her I would pray that she changes her mind, pray for a miracle — and pray I did. I got off the phone with her and she seemed grounded in her decision not to make soup this year.
Naturally, I called one of my besties (also a Haitian-American) to complain, and she tells me that her mother is away visiting her cousin for the New Year and her soup joumou prospects are looking a lot like mine. Stunned and appalled, we went on and on complaining about these mothers of ours “What kind of Nouveau Haitians are they becoming?! What kind of grandparents do this sort of thing to their grandkids’ parents??” Then my girlfriend says “I mean, we’re grown…but still…” and without missing a beat, I counter with “We aren’t that grown”…but her comment gave me pause.
We are pretty grown. We have three kids each and our youngests are 5 and 6 — so our babies are not even babies. It hit me in that instant that maybe I should be making my own soup joumou. I was not being independent at all (on Haitian Independence Day of all days!) In fact, I’ve been pretty dependent on my parents keeping my Haitian culture alive for me and my children. It’s so easy to fall into that pattern when you live so close to your parents, and your world (and that of your children) is so Americanized. I realized then that I must do better. I actually have the recipe for soup joumou (in fact, I’ve posted it on this very blog in the past), but hadn’t even considered making it myself. I realized again the responsibility that I, as a Haitian-American, have to pass down the culture of my parents to my children as best I can.
Luckily for me, before I was able to run to the supermarket and get all the ingredients for my very first January 1st Soup Joumou, I got a call from my mother. A friend of my father’s gave him a huge pot of soup joumou to bring home. (One thing you should know about Haitians is when they do make soup joumou they make a whole lot of it!) My prayers had been answered…Amen!
I was very happy to be able to enjoy soup joumou, pates and kremas with my parents this year (again). Next year, though, I do plan to hook my own household up with my own soup joumou…I’ll invite my parents over if my mom doesn’t feel like making it herself. After all, I am grown.
Cornbread and Cremasse 