The City of North Miami has a rare opportunity to be culturally relevant for the large Caribbean population in South Florida. The internationally celebrated Mardi Gras festival is typically celebrated any time during the period following the Twelfth Night of Christmas (January 5) and the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. Countries all over the world celebrate Mardi Gras with their own unique traditions. In Caribbean countries, Mardi Gras is famously known as Carnival. Places like Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and others, these festivals attract hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
On tonight’s Agenda, the North Miami Mayor and Council are proposing a Resolution to sponsor a Mardi Gras festival to be held on Sunday, January 29, 2017 in the city’s downtown district. According to this Resolution, such a festival “can be an engine for economic growth and vitality in the City of North Miami, as well as highlight and celebrate the cultural diversity that represents the City of North Miami.”
Because of political turmoil in Haiti beginning with the dictatorship of the Duvalier regime in 1957, Haitians have sought asylum and permanent residency in the United States. Sixty thousand Haitians settled in South Florida between 1977 and 1981. The City of North Miami now has the second largest Haitian population in South Florida, with thirty three percent of its residents of Haitian ancestry. Back in their homeland, the annual Haitian Carnival, or Kanaval, in Port-au-Prince is one of the largest in the Caribbean and North America. The Haitian tradition of celebrating Carnival goes back to 1804, and is a huge part of the culture.
Over the centuries, the customs and traditions of every ethnic group have become part of our diverse American landscape. Just like St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, Calle Ocho in Little Havana, Chinese New Year in San Francisco and Cinco de Mayo pretty much everywhere else, a Mardi Gras festival is the perfect celebration for the City of North Miami.
Let the party begin!
Stephanie
