Why do Haitians eat pumpkin soup "Soup Joumou" on January First?
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Squash soup or pumpkin soup, or better yet “soup joumou” is a special Haitian, a fabulous stuffed meal made of several vegetables and legumes such as yellow squash (joumou or giromon), potatoes, cabbage, turnips, fresh parsley, and carrots, well seasoned beef or ribs, macaroni and spaghetti.
Serving and eating Soup “joumou” on January First, the Haitian independence Day, is a sacred gesture incorporated to the celebrations due to the fact that it ends slavery and opens the door to freedom for Haitians.
During the colonization period in Haiti, only the French masters would eat this soup for celebrations and forbid the slaves to ever have it. So, on January 1, 1804 to really celebrate freedom, or express victory, the Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines advised his wife to cook and offer this soup to the former slaves as a slap to the defeated masters whom they call “the va-nu pieds/colons”. They happily eat what they could not have.
The equation is simply: Haitian Pumpkin Soup = Symbol of Liberty.
What a better way to celebrate a past! A bowl of hot Haitian pumpkin soup on January First
