Haitian Sensation

This semester, Julie is taking a caribbean music class.  One of the projects for the class is to observe a caribbean musical event.  The professor of the class is fluent in Haitian creole and spent a good deal of time doing ethnographic studies of Haitian music.  So, one of the musical events recommended by the professor was to observe a Haitian church service here in Lansing.  One of Julie’s classmates invited her to go to the service, so, naturally, I tagged along.

We drove a mile down the road to Central Free Methodist Church, home of Église Méthodiste Libre du Calvaire.  I’m always apprehensive when I go to non-white-American cultural event.  I assume everyone will view me as a strange outsider and I will be unwelcome.  It was not so here!  Right off the bat we were greeted by the pastor’s wife and the pastor’s assistant.  They were celebrating their 5th anniversary and there was a baptism . Everyone seemed very happy to be there.  

The music was an experience in itself.  It was fun trying to sing in creole and trying to translate everything.  I knew “merci,” “bonjour,” “bien,” and “mwen.”  The pastor also translated a few things for us after he introduced us to the congregation.  Most of the music had a caribbean groove to it and made you want to dance – although being white, I did not try to dance.  The instrumentation included electric guitar, bass, piano, a drum set, and hand drums.  At one point two women each sang some very beautiful solos that seemed to be improvised.  Very haunting, but beautiful sounds. During communion, all of the congregants lined up in the front. The pastors handed out the elements as they all sang an old hymn.  

Although it was 98% in creole, the sermon was about the church – both big-C Church and little-c church.  The local church – Légliz lokal la –  and the universal church – Légliz Univésel la.  A very appropriate topic as we were able to worship as brothers and sisters in Christ (Jezu ki) despite coming from entirely different parts of the world and speaking very different languages.

After the service we were invited to have dinner with everyone.  There was a mix of American pizza and mac and cheese, some egg rolls, and some traditional Haitian food.  I headed straight for the Haitian treats.  One was a stew they called “Legeems” that was a mix of chicken (and if I heard him correctly, most parts of the chicken) and vegetables.  They also served a sweet soda bread and some crispy, oily chips that almost seemed like fried flour tortillas.  After all that, the pastor brought us some “paddies” that his wife made that were pastry puffs filled with spiced ground meat.  The pastry dough was like a sourdough.  The whole thing melted in my mouth.  

As a special bonus, the pastor prayed over Julie and I that we would have a new baby within a year.  It’s not what we’re planning right now, but if God wants it to happen, then we’ll have a true miracle on our hands!