Besides the morning mass, there were a few other Christmas day activities that took place in my community. One being painting the house! Tim and I both think it’s funny that Haitians tend to paint their houses or buildings, fè kay bel, on the actual day of the holiday. In the states we like to do it before hand, so we are able to sit back and enjoy the day, but things don’t really work that way here…and for good reasons.

The painting of the house on Christmas was amusing, but not quite as entertaining as watching businesses trying to paint in the mist of the frenzy the day Wyclef Jean paraded around Jacmel in a huge moto brigade. For those who don’t know, Wyclef, who was born in Haiti, is a hip-hop musician (who sings that song with Shakira, Hips Don’t Lie and performed it live at the world cup finals) and is probably the single most popular Haitian figure today. He came to Jacmel at the beginning of December and gave a concert on the beach, gratis, free. It was a HUGE deal here, and anyone who was anyone and could get to the beach for the concert, did. So, instead of painting the week before Wyclef arrived, or even the day before, quite a few businesses where slapping on paint as Wyclef and the crowds were flying through the streets.

Though I don’t have any pictures of the Wyclef parade, here is one of my host father painting the house on Christmas day.


Whenever people have some down time, they like to play dominoes, especially the kids who live in my lakou, immediate neighborhood. Most people had Christmas day rather free and thus it involved a lot of domino playing. Here are some kids from the neighborhood playing. As I’m writing this post, I just heard a neighbor slam down a domino and now all of the men outside are arguing. There’s nothing like a rousing game of dominoes!


After our amazing Christmas lunch, of rice & beans & chicken, Tim and I went visiting neighbors. Many were overjoyed to have Tim sit at their house, for some it was the first time they’d met him. Christmas day, and the day after Christmas, I managed to accumulate quite the assortment of tropical fruit. As always, I was amazed at the generosity of my neighbors and their insistence that I leave their house with a handful of something. Here is a photo of the goods.


Our last stop on Christmas day was the house of Tim’s language helper. Bona is a moun Meno (from Meno), but spends most of his time in Jacmel. Here’s a photo of Tim and Bona.


I couldn’t resist posting a few photos of some kids in my community. I’ve been talking the camera around lately and trying to make sure everyone gets in a photo. These are some of my little friends.