Liberty In A Soup
January first marks the beginning of a new year, throughout the world, a reason to celebrate the possibilities of what the future will bring. For many Haitians, the first day of January not only symbolizes looking forward to a fresh new start, but looking back at the events that influenced many of the cultural rituals now practiced in the Common Era. Every New Year, and in celebration of their Independence, Haitian families gather together to feast in honor of a line of ancestors that fought for their freedom. The centerpiece of the festivity is the joumou soup—a traditional soup dating back centuries ago. The joumou soup is a concretization of war and victory, oppression and emancipation, and the deeply rooted celebratory traditions of the Haitian culture. Many wonder how the joumou soup became a staple of Haiti’s Independence Day celebration. In this documentary, we will unravel the history of a tradition rooting back to the Haitian Revolution.
At the end of the 18th century, a series of insurgencies would reshape civilization, as we knew it, and transform all human thought and behavior. The transpiration of the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions changed the course of history and paved the way for generations to come.
In “Liberty in a Soup” we follow two Haitian families and a chef living in Gonaïves, Haiti and Miami, FL, to see how they celebrate and prepare the joumou soup for their Independence Day celebration. We embark on a three-day journey with each family as they showcase the ritual of their feast from the market to the kitchen and reveal the importance of keeping the joumou soup tradition alive. Follow us as we explore the historical events of what we’ve come to know as the Haitian Revolution and its worldwide impact.