May 18th 2024 Haiti was the 221st Anniversary of the Haitian Flag Day created during the Haitian Revolution.
This event was organised by the Association of Haitian Nationals in Guyana (AHNIG) commemorated in Guyana and hosted by at the Christian Mission Haitian Assembly on their grounds at Duncan Street, Kitty, Georgetown, Guyana. and organized and supported by Haiti Societe, Haitian living in Guyana and the Haiti Support Group of Guyana and others. It was a day to celebrate Haitian Culture, distinctive arka, delicious food and to learn the traditions of Haiti and its people.
The Haitian Flag represents Freedom and Liberty for from slavery and colonisation not only Haitians for the people of Haiti but for all people everywhere. from slavery and colonialization. The Coat of Arms on Haiti’s Flag reads L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE which translates UNITY IN STENGTH STRENGTH which was a rallying force and a cornerstone of Haitian beliefs commitment to the revolution. , dating back to the glorious Haitian Revolution and the liberation of Haitians from the horrors of enslavement.
For Haitians in the diaspora everywhere, Haiti Flag Day represents the cultural heritage, struggles for freedom and independence, and resilience in adversity. Haiti was the first black Republic and the first peoples to attain their freedom from enslavement from the most powerful military powers of the time, the French colonizers. of what was then known to be …… The Haitian revolutionary leaders renamed their liberated country Haiti after the Taino, name for their island, Ayti Ayiti, and who were wiped out by enslavement, disease and killings by the Spanish and other European colonizers.
The creation of the Haitian Flag goes back to the 2 two brief years following the revolution, when a vertical flag of black and red was flown. Revolutionary leader Jean Jacques Dessalines then designed the flag by taking the French tri-colour flag and ripping out the white centre and asking Catherine Flor Flon his god-daughter to sew the remaining blue and red together. ,The the blue representing the African ancestry of the Haitian people and the red representing the blood shed during the revolution.
The Haiti Support Group-Guyana, in brief remarks brought warm greetings to the Haitians in Guyana, in Haiti and in the Diaspora on Haitian Flag Day 2024. The 18th May 1803, was the day Haiti’s beautiful and significant Flag was created during the Haitian Revolution.
As we in Guyana see and hear in the news and from friends and colleagues in Haiti of a deteriorating situation unfolding and continuing to unfold, we in the Haiti Support Group came up with the idea of creating a quilt, a visual picture of the revolutionary history of Haiti, with its revolutionary leaders both men and women like Boukman, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Makandal, Dessalines, Fatima, Victoria Montou, Sanite, and Catherine Flon (who sewed the first blue and red Haitian flag). Monuments that marked Haiti’s revolutionary history like the Citadelle (la (Sitadel la), the monument to Taino Princess Anacaona and the arresting bronze Neg Maroon Maron statue in front of Haiti’s Presidential Palace. The Haiti Quilt quilt also shows some of the main foods crops grown like coffee, and rice, the market places with an abundance of local food and the amazing market women and men of Haiti, the fishing industry, traditional Haitian houses, the hibiscus – the national flower of Haiti, the Karabela the national dress for women, and the drums of Haiti reflecting evoking the heartbeat and the wonderful music and history. We named our quilt Haiti/Ayiti our Heart because for us as for Haitians Haiti is also our heart. The Haiti/ Ayiti Our Heart Quilt was created by the hands of 22 persons: Haitians and, Guyanese and Indigenous children, women and men. Haiti Ayiti Pap Peri ( please put in the correct spelling & translation Charlene)