January sun was warm in Washington on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It caused me to slip the jacket from my shoulders as I walked on New Hampshire Avenue. There were no eviction piles of possessions along the curb this week, as there were in November. Instead, Christmas trees had been put to the curb, waiting for some special truck to take them away. Only one of the three adjacent townhouses for sale in November still has a sign out front. Perhaps it’s evidence of economic recovery, at least among the DC townhouse set.
From the stereo in the coffee shop, I heard Professor Longhair whistling “Big Chief” and was reminded that Carnival season has begun. Carnival, which some people think is limited to Mardi Gras, is one of the oldest human rituals. Historian Karen Armstrong traces its history back to the Babylonian creation story.
In that story, the gods overcame the Earth’s initial chaos and established order. In the Babylonian springtime as the Earth was renewed after winter, the gods (and the king) had to annually reassert their power, so the king was symbolically dethroned, chaos (in the form of unfettered celebration) reigned and in the end the king (and gods) were re-throned and order was restored.
Quaint, isn’t it? Little of this remains in our society today. Christian syncretists took over the holiday and changed its meaning two millennia ago. (“Carnival” is derived from the Latin carne vale or “farewell to meat,” a reference to meatless fasting imposed during Lent.)
That the meaning of a given ritual should change over time is inevitable. There’s no point mourning about that, but it’s disappointing that what was once Carnival has devolved – at least in the US – into an occasion for public inebriation, the display of certain body parts (you know which ones I mean) and the distribution of cheap plastic beads.
On another hand, consider what unfolds in Haiti, a nation with a long history of celebrating Carnival. There are no celebrations this year. Instead, the Babylonian creation story is enacted before our eyes or perhaps it’s the Haitian re-creation story. Chaos reigns. Looting, rape, murder, fights over the few scraps of food available. What goes down on Bourbon Street are pale vestiges of the real thing occurring now in Port-au-Prince. It’s horrible to see and more horrible to know no god or king will arrive in four weeks to restore order. (Here’s a 60 Minutes piece on what doctors there struggle with.)
Pat Robertson, in his widely broadcast ignorance, ascribed the torture of the Haitian people to a pact made with the devil two hundred years ago. Just as no god will descend from the sky to make things right in Haiti, so it is that no supernatural demon caused the misery there now. Which is not to say that the Haitians are not victims of the agents of evil.
Throughout its history of European occupation Haiti’s natives were first wiped out, then replaced with African slaves. They threw off their shackles 200 years ago (which Mr. Robertson thinks was the devil’s work), but life has not been easy there since. Haiti has long been the “away” in the phrase “throw away.” It’s where we take our waste, where we exploit the poor there for their labor and natural resources. The western hemisphere has used and discarded Haiti a dozen times.
Gods and kings are in Haiti’s past. If they are to recreate their world, they will need our help. If we choose to help Haiti, we choose to help ourselves, because their world is our world.
Many groups are sending aid to Haiti. Two of the most effective are Partners in Health, which has been serving the medical needs of poor Haitians for 25 years. Another is Doctors Without Borders. The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza is now shuttling supplies into rural areas for DWB, as we did in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and in Samoa in 2009. Money donated to these groups goes right where it’s needed most.
Re-Creation Stories
January sun was warm in Washington on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It caused me to slip the jacket from my shoulders as I walked on New Hampshire Avenue. There were no eviction piles of possessions along the curb this week, as there were in November. Instead, Christmas trees had been put to the curb, waiting for some special truck to take them away. Only one of the three adjacent townhouses for sale in November still has a sign out front. Perhaps it’s evidence of economic recovery, at least among the DC townhouse set.
From the stereo in the coffee shop, I heard Professor Longhair whistling “Big Chief” and was reminded that Carnival season has begun. Carnival, which some people think is limited to Mardi Gras, is one of the oldest human rituals. Historian Karen Armstrong traces its history back to the Babylonian creation story.
In that story, the gods overcame the Earth’s initial chaos and established order. In the Babylonian springtime as the Earth was renewed after winter, the gods (and the king) had to annually reassert their power, so the king was symbolically dethroned, chaos (in the form of unfettered celebration) reigned and in the end the king (and gods) were re-throned and order was restored.
Quaint, isn’t it? Little of this remains in our society today. Christian syncretists took over the holiday and changed its meaning two millennia ago. (“Carnival” is derived from the Latin carne vale or “farewell to meat,” a reference to meatless fasting imposed during Lent.)
That the meaning of a given ritual should change over time is inevitable. There’s no point mourning about that, but it’s disappointing that what was once Carnival has devolved – at least in the US – into an occasion for public inebriation, the display of certain body parts (you know which ones I mean) and the distribution of cheap plastic beads.
On another hand, consider what unfolds in Haiti, a nation with a long history of celebrating Carnival. There are no celebrations this year. Instead, the Babylonian creation story is enacted before our eyes or perhaps it’s the Haitian re-creation story. Chaos reigns. Looting, rape, murder, fights over the few scraps of food available. What goes down on Bourbon Street are pale vestiges of the real thing occurring now in Port-au-Prince. It’s horrible to see and more horrible to know no god or king will arrive in four weeks to restore order. (Here’s a 60 Minutes piece on what doctors there struggle with.)
Pat Robertson, in his widely broadcast ignorance, ascribed the torture of the Haitian people to a pact made with the devil two hundred years ago. Just as no god will descend from the sky to make things right in Haiti, so it is that no supernatural demon caused the misery there now. Which is not to say that the Haitians are not victims of the agents of evil.
Throughout its history of European occupation Haiti’s natives were first wiped out, then replaced with African slaves. They threw off their shackles 200 years ago (which Mr. Robertson thinks was the devil’s work), but life has not been easy there since. Haiti has long been the “away” in the phrase “throw away.” It’s where we take our waste, where we exploit the poor there for their labor and natural resources. The western hemisphere has used and discarded Haiti a dozen times.
Gods and kings are in Haiti’s past. If they are to recreate their world, they will need our help. If we choose to help Haiti, we choose to help ourselves, because their world is our world.
© Mark Floegel, 2010
Many groups are sending aid to Haiti. Two of the most effective are Partners in Health, which has been serving the medical needs of poor Haitians for 25 years. Another is Doctors Without Borders. The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza is now shuttling supplies into rural areas for DWB, as we did in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and in Samoa in 2009. Money donated to these groups goes right where it’s needed most.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti