God's Day

Kids waiting patiently

          On Tuesday Gertrude started talking about decorating for the God's Day celebration that would happen today.  We kept asking what it was, and all she could explain was that God's Day came 15 days after the ascension.  I googled it and couldn't find much.  The only thing that I could find on Google was information about "God's Day" being the Sabbath.  Apparently, God's Day is a major Catholic celebration around the world, but none of the American Catholics here had ever heard of it.
           I didn't let my lack of knowledge keep me from participating!  Both Abby, the intern, and I helped corral the kids while we waited for the procession to arrive.  And we waited.  And waited.  We finally saw and heard a procession coming and got all ready.  But, they turned to the right instead of the left, going away from us!  Thinking they had the directions wrong, Gertrude sent Rosie, her daughter, and Safie, her niece, running after them.  Turns out is was a Catholic procession, just not the one from our church.  So we went back to waiting.

Decorations for our stop

          I decided to head inside to grab a book and read while waiting, and about 10 minutes after settling in on the steps, we thought we heard music.  We gathered the kids and ran outside.  Lined up.  No procession.  So, I went back upstairs to send some e-mails.  Barely got my laptop open before I heard the shouts about the procession coming.  I didn't move.  Not fooling me again.

Procession at our gate

         Third time's the charm!  This was the right procession from the right church!  Good thing processions move slowly because I had time to get downstairs and outside before the group turned the corner.  I didn't understand all the words, but I did get that they were honoring sacraments.  We joined the procession while it continued onto the last two stops (there are five stops in the procession) before heading back to the church.  Even though I didn't understand all the words, it was pretty cool to walk in the streets with everyone singing, dancing, clapping, and praising God.
          It wasn't until earlier this evening that I figured out what God's Day is (thank you, Susan, for knowing what to google to get the right information!).  It's known as the Feast of Corpus Christi which is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.  After a mass, there comes the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which is what we participated in.  In Haiti, this day is a national holiday, and many schools are out of session (ours were).  I guess it is up to each school to decide whether they have classes or not, but the schools that do have classes will have a celebration of some sort during the day.

Abby on the back of a tap tap

          In other business, Abby needed a phone, so we headed back up to Star 2000 to get it.  This time, though, I introduced her to moto taxis and the tap tap system.  I remember how thankful I was when someone finally showed me how to get around a bit on my own so that I could have some freedom, so I hope in a couple more trips she will feel confident going out on her own!
          I sure wish I had thought to put sunscreen on at some point during the day.  I'm not quite glowing red, but it's close.  I don't know whether it would help much, though, because I sweat so much that it wouldn't last long!  Oh, well.