HAITI : ABOUT DEATH One of the most elaborate forms of architecture in Haiti is its tombs. Bodies are buried in graves above ground rather than in it, with colourful crypts ar grand as people can afford. In the countryside, especially in the South, people are buried on family land wherever possible, while in the cities, they are buried in formal cemeteries. Death is not hidden ; numerous advertisements for funerals are common on the roads. Vodou rituals are mixed with Christian ones. Dominique LAURENT Meet me on mosttraveledpeople.com or thebesttravelled.com AUTOMATIC NO COMMERCIAL USE WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL

Grand Cimetière de Port-au-Prince (Port-au-Prince Cemetery) This cemetery is almost a city in itself !

Entrance ‘I say that the grave that closes over the dead opens onto Heaven and that what we consider as the end is the Beginning’

Funeral services named ‘Bonne entente’ (‘Good deal’) in Rue de l’enterrement (‘Funeral Street’), near the entrance of the cemetery

Wrecked tomb of the dictator François Duvalier (wrecked after the collapse of his son’s rule in 1986)

Wrecked family shrine ot François Duvalier’s family

Barbancourt family shrine Barbancourt family shrine (the Barbancourt owned the most famous rhum distillery in Haiti, created in 1862)

The church of the cemetery

A tree with Vodou ex votos (left) A Vodou statue (right)

A spot for Vodou rituals

Every 1 & 2 November, ‘Fet Gede’,. the Vodou festival of the dead, is Every 1 & 2 November, ‘Fet Gede’, the Vodou festival of the dead, is held in this cemetery. ‘Happy feast to all the dead’ Baron Samedi & his wife Maman Brigitte (Vodou ‘Iwas’)

Baron Samedi (Vodou guardian of the crossroads between life & death)

Maman Brigitte (Baron Samedi’s wife)

A Vodou spot

Memorial dedicated to the dead of the 2010 earthquake

Memorial dedicated to the dead of the 2010 earthquake

Along the roads

A funeral parlor named ‘Optimist’ (!) (Gros Morne, NW of Haiti)

A funeral parlor named ‘Resurrection’ (!) (Cap-Haïtien)

A funeral parlor (Saint-Marc)

Banners above the roads announcing funerals

A funeral parlor named ‘Shield of Faith’ (Gros Morne)

Death announcement (Jean-Rabel, NW coast)

Death announcement painted on wall (Limbé, NW coast)

Jacmel Cemetery

‘Remember that you come from dust and will return to dust’

‘I say that the grave that closes over the dead opens onto Heaven and that what we consider as the end is the Beginning’

Horace-Camille Desmoulins ‘s tomb (Horace-Camille, dead in 1825, was Camille Desmoulins’ s son ; Camille Desmoulins is well known for his actions during the French Revolution and was beheaded in 1794)

Across Haiti

Countryside cemetery : trekking between Seguin & Pic de la Selle

Countryside cemetery : trekking between Seguin & Pic de la Selle

Scattered tombs near the fortress Fort Ogé (SE of Haiti)

Countryside cemetery between Les Cayes & Citadelle des Platons

Countryside cemetery between Les Cayes & Citadelle des Platons

Scattered tombs near La Vallée (Southern HaIti)

Scattered tombs near Ducis (Southern Haiti)

Scattered tombs near Ducis (Southern Haiti)

Miragoâne cemetery

Saut d’Eau cemetery

Môle Saint Nicolas cemetery END