Manman
The Haitian Creole word for 'mother'
wanga
A charm or spell
Fort Dimanche Prison
A former prison that was located in Port-au-Prince, infamous for its torture and murder of inmates during the regime of François Duvalier
indigent
A needy person
macoutes
A special operations unit within the Haitian military that François Duvalier created to increase his own power
genteel
To be polite or refined in an ostentatious way
gourdes
The current currency of Haiti
Ginen
In the Vodou religion, it is a forested island at the bottom of cosmic waters where the Iwa, the holy spirits of Vodou, reside
transistor
A type of radio
vagabonds
A wanderer, a person without a real home or connections
poupou
Feces or waste
kriz
A seizure
banyan
A type of fig that grows into a tree by growing on other plants
Lougarou
A mythical creature that flies at night by either turning into a bird or by taking off its skin and turning into a ball of fire
herring
A type of fish commonly eaten around the world
gendarme
A member of a military force that has assumed the policing duties of a civilian population
lago
A Haitian slang word for 'hide-and-seek'
jalousies
Window blinds or shutters that are made from rows of angled slats
madrigals
A song type dating back to the Renaissance and Early Baroque periods
bougainvillea
A genus of vines, bushes, and trees that have leaves near their flowers
manbos
The highest level of female clergy in the Vodou religion, tasked with maintaining the relationship between the spirits and the community
rara
A type of festival music that originated in Haiti and is typically used in street parades
merengue
A type of Carribbean dance normally associated with Haiti or the Dominican Republic.
posterity
A noun that refers to all future generations of people
dissonant
Clashing or lacking in harmony
frankfurter
A seasoned beef or pork sausage that has origins in Germany
bolero
A type of Spanish song or dance
calabash
A type of squash that can be harvested while still young and made into a bottle, utensil, pipe, etc.
