Christmas in Haiti

In Haiti, at the beginning of December, people start looking for Christmas Trees. They might cut pine branches or go to the market and get trees brought from the mountains. The trees are decorated with bright ornaments. Churches and other organisations also have trees on display. Artificial tress are also more common as they last longer! People also fix and redecorate their homes ready for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, children place their newly cleaned shoes, filled with straw under the tree on the porch. They hope that Santa will remove the straw and put presents in and around the shoes!

Often, lots of houses in neighborhoods are open with all lights on until about 3.00am! Children are normally allowed to go out and often the parents don't know were they are in the early morning - the older children are expected to look after the younger ones!

Some people go to a Midnight Mass church service, or you might go out carol singing. After the Mass, people come home and eat the main meal called 'reveillon' (it's a French term meaning 'to wake up' and is what the main meal is also called in France). The meal normally starts in the early hours of christmas morning and lasts until the dawn!

Christmas Day is much quieter with people sleeping off the celebrations of the night before! However, there will be more eating and playing with the toys from Tonton Nwèl.