Inspiring Your Child to Love Sleep,
One Story at a Time
One Story at a Time
Our story “The Mermaid and the Whale” takes place in Haiti, a gorgeous and picturesque Caribbean island brimming with life and culture! It’s down below the United States, in the Caribbean Sea! The water there is bright blue and warm, and the people love to swim and fish! As you listen to “The Mermaid and The Whale”, we invite you to close your eyes and imagine you are transported to the magical land of Haiti.
“Lasirèn ak Labalèn” – this is the name of a Haitian folksong. Lasiren means the “siren” which is what some people call mermaids, and Labalen means the” whale”. This song inspired the wonderful storyteller Djenane Saint Juste, a native of Haiti, to write The Mermaid and the Whale into a book, but for hundreds of years this story has been passed down from generation to generation through traditional oral storytelling with dance and music.
Legend has it that Lasiren, (which is actually French for “Mermaid” or “Siren” -a beautiful singer) was one of three mermaid sisters in Haiti. Lasiren’s personality was a mixture between her two sisters. One sister was calm, cool and collected and the other sister was powerful and strong willed. Lasiren was powerful, and calm and cool! In the story Mermaid and the Whale, LaSiren calls the whale her sister. and we think that’s because they both live under the sea. Below are three Haitian banners showing beautiful mermaids, and they are made with thousands of sequins! We love the pink and teal tails of the mermaids. What color tail would your mermaid have!?
So then who was “LaBalen”? Well, Haiti has lots of whales, including humpback whales, dwarf whales, and sperm whales. We think the whale in the story of The Mermaid and The Whale was a sperm whale, which is most often seen in the Gulf of Gonave.
The Caribbean is one of the most important whale watching sites in the world, which is why The Haitian Ocean Project is so cool. It was created in 2007 and is focused on the protection and preservation of marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks, and rays; all endangered in this Caribbean nation!
The Republic of Haiti, which is the official name of Haiti, has deep and rich cultural roots. A big part of Haitian culture is storytelling! Fables and folktales have been passed down from generation to generation dating back to the native Tainos people. Each village had a storyteller – because they were telling the story, not reading it, and people would gather around to listen. To start it off,, the storyteller would shout, “KRIC!” to get the attention of the audience, and when the audience replied “KRAC!” the storyteller would begin the story. Sometimes there was dancing in the story too! These stories always had a moral and were often about animals.
Originally home to the Tainos people, Haiti is part of a big island in the Caribbean Sea. Haiti is home to over 11 million people who mainly speak Haitian Creole and French.
You may be wondering, “Why would a nation in the Caribbean Sea speak French? That’s so far away from France!” Well, good observation!! France ruled over Haiti for a long time, for over 100 years. They brought many African slaves there. The French colonizers taught the people of the Island to speak French, and combined with the African language, it became Creole. But the people rebelled against French rule and slavery, and Haitians gained independence from France in 1804. This tells you a lot about the willpower, strength and vigor of the Haitian people, who are filled with life, knowledge, power, dignity, creativity, joy and spirit.
Haitian art is vibrant and picturesque, just like the landscape! Haitian painters use bold, bright colors to capture the sparkle of their environment, foods and people. One famous Haitian painter, Préfète Duffaut (1923 – 2012), was popular for his portraits of towns and cities. This “Untitled (Imaginary City)” piece is from 1963. This work represents the bustle of everyday Haitian life.
Soccer, like in many countries in the world, is Haiti’s most popular sport. Do you play soccer? In Haiti and other countries, they call soccer “football”. In America, when we say football, we think of a completely different sport! Haiti even has its own professional football league, the Haitian Football Federation.
Every year, professional teams from all over Haiti compete in the Haitian National Football Championship. This is the biggest Haitian sporting event of the year. Other popular sports in Haiti include basketball, volleyball and athletics (track and field).
Every New Year’s Day, a long-standing Haitian tradition is preparing and making Soup Joumou. That’s kind of fun to say, but what is it? Soup Joumou is a rich soup made from a squash base (giramont, or turban squash) with chicken, beef, noodles and vegetables. The tradition dates back to New Year’s Day in 1804, over two hundred years ago! That’s the year Haiti gained independence from France! Before that, only the French colonizers ate this rich soup.
By making Soup Joumou for themselves, they rejoiced in their liberation and celebrated their independence with a tasty treat!
Haiti is very unique in its cuisine because of its French influence. Haitian cuisine is rooted in its own Creole roots. They like to use lots of peppers and spices in their dishes and pair those with starches, like rice, squash and plantains (shown below), which look like bananas. Haitians love their locally grown sweet fruits in meals and drinks, like coconuts, mangoes and papayas! What’s your favorite tropical fruit?
