Jacmel: city of carnival and craft
Jacmel sits on a bay on Haiti’s southern coast. It is known for its old merchant houses with iron balconies, for its artists, and above all for its carnival.
A town of makers
Walk through Jacmel in January and you will find workshops full of papier-mâché: lions, dragons, birds, and faces, shaped over clay molds, dried in the sun, and painted in bright colors. The craft is passed from one generation of artisans to the next. In 2014 UNESCO named Jacmel a Creative City for crafts and folk art.
Carnival, Jacmel style
Jacmel holds its carnival about a week before the national carnival. Instead of large floats and sound trucks, the streets fill with people on foot wearing those masks. Some characters return every year: Chaloska, a soldier with huge teeth who mocks a feared officer of the past; the Lanse Kòd, covered in dark syrup and charcoal; and the winged devils known as Mathurin.
After the earthquake
The earthquake of January 2010 damaged much of the historic center. The masks came back the following years, and with them the visitors. For Jacmel, carnival is art, memory, and livelihood at once.
