Introductory remarks by linguist-terminologist Robert Berrouët-Oriol, Montreal, December 25, 2024.
The news caused a major explosion among teachers, intellectuals and cultural operators in New York and elsewhere: Max Manigat died in a retirement home on December 23, 2024. A leading figure of the Haitian New York intelligentsia for several decades, Max Manigat was a career educator. He taught in Haiti, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and for twenty-three years he was a professor at CUNY (City University of New York) where he taught history, Haitian culture and Creole. A rigorous historian, passionate about research and a recognized bibliophile, he left us a first-rate heritage that is both innovative and rich in his discoveries. A native of Cap Haïtien, a man of great culture and encyclopedic knowledge, he cultivated with a very natural elegance the discretion that befits an honest man. Max Manigat was an open-minded man of dialogue and he repeatedly made his contribution to various citizen debates related to Haiti. Visionary keen to put books written in Haiti and in the diaspora within the reach of Haitian readers at home, in their usual living environment, Max Manigat inaugurated the first telephone ordering service for Haitian books in New York State in the 1980s. Readers living in New York and elsewhere placed orders and received the books previously chosen against guaranteed payment. THE ” Haitian Book Center » created by Max Manigat was thus the first online heritage bookstore in New York State.
The work of Max Manigatresulting from his historical and sociological research, includes several reference titles:
1. « Haiti 1971-1975. Haitian bibliography » (Editions du Cidihca, 1981).
2. « Haitiana 1991-1995. Haitian bibliography » (Editions du Cidihca, 1997).
3. « Haiti 1996-2000. Haitian bibliography » (Editions du Cidihca, 2003).
4. « Leaders of Haïti : 1804-2001 – Historical Overview (Education Vision 2005, 2006).
5. « Creole words from Northern Haiti. Origins – History – Memories (Education Vision, 2006).
6. « The jewel of Capois cuisine: cashew nuts (Education Vision, 2012).
7. « Origins, history and memories of 600 Creole words from my youth in Capoise » appeared in « Cap-Haïtien. Excursions in time. Through our memories » (Sanba Editions, [Haiti]2014).
8. « Creole words from Northern Haiti. Origins-History-Memories (Education Vision, 2006).
9. « Patamouch (Education Vision, 2007).
10. « Nineteenth-century Haitian Creole proverbs (Education Vision, 2009).
11. « Haitian wisdom / Old Haitian proverb (Education Vision, 2009).
12. « Haitian proverbs by Edmond Chenet (Education Vision, 2013).
13. « Cap Haitien / Excursions in time » (Sanba Editions, [Haiti]2014).
14. « Cap Haitien / Excursions in time » / Capois voices of the diaspora » (Educa Vision, 2008).
Is our Soup joumou French? (Another reading)
By Max Manigat
Article published in Haiti on the moveflight. XXXI no 513, January 2018, page 11.
The reissue of this remarkable article is a tribute to Max Manigat
died in New York on December 23, 2024.
Traditions well anchored in many Haitian families “more French than de Gaulle” sometimes make us wear blinders, and as soon as it comes to etymology or culinary customs they bring everything back to “our ancestors the Gauls” . It is enough to remind us of the crazy traditional etymology of the Creole word “marassa” whose origin would be: “ [c’est] my race that. » As I wrote in my “ Northern Creole words d’Haiti…” (2006, p. 238) our word marasa is none other than a Haitian pronunciation of the Kikongo words: “mapása, mapésa: twins; variants: mahása, mayása. » (Pierre Swartenbroeckx (1973, p. 303) The author of “ Creole philology » was right when he wrote: “The word marasa is African and one of its Kikongo variants is mayása…” (Faine, Jules: “ Creole philology »…, p. 319.) * The origin of our traditional joumou soup on January 1st also lends itself to a fanciful version making one believe that our African ancestors thrown into slavery in Santo Domingo, having become free and Haitian, thought of nothing else, the first day of our independence, than to feast on a dish that their former masters refused them. Two competent vodouologists: Jerry & Yvrose Gilles, authors of the book: “ Guinea service. Roots, Ritual, Respect lan Vodou » (2009, 401 p., ill.) » have in an article titled « Soup Joumou » (www.bookmanlit.com) mis les points sur les « i »: « It is true that people who worked as slaves did not eat well , There is no evidence that French colonists prevented Africans from drinking Pumpkin Soupnor prevent them from eating any other food. Pumpkin soup was never a food that was reserved only for colonists. Pumpkin soup cooked in a way that is well-founded in the Guinean Heritage. It is not a fake food. It has nothing to do with French food style. » [« Bien qu’il est vrai que les personnes travaillant comme esclaves n’avaient pas une alimentation adéquate, aucune preuve n’existe pour montrer que les colons français interdisaient aux Africains de manger de la soupe joumou. Cette soupe ne fut jamais un plat réservé aux seuls colons. La soupe joumou se prépare d’une façon conforme à l’Eritaj Ginen [notre héritage africain]. It’s not a dish that we copied. It has nothing to do with French cuisine. »] [Ma traduction] * Descourtilz does not mention “giraumon soup”: “Creole ladies really like Giraumon cooked with salted salt and ripe bananas. We also prepare the pulp with milk and sugar for desserts, and we call this preparation Giraumonade. (Descourtilz: « Picturesque flora »…t. V, p. 75) The word: jiromonad / jiomounad is not recorded in the “ Haitian-English Dictionary » (2004, 1020 p.) by Bryant C. Freeman (dir.) The dish described by Descourtilz “(…) Creole ladies really like Giraumon cooked with petit-salé and ripe bananas” has disappeared from our culinary repertoire . It resembles that proposed by Niniche Gaillard (1950, p. 198): “ Jourou-mounade “, but instead of being enjoyed alone, it is “…served hot, garnished with chopped parsley. It goes with roasted meat (sic). ” THE Jomounad is known in the North, it is a preparation of rice and giraumon. * THE ” Great dictionary of cuisine…” (1873, 1,155 p.) by Alexandre Dumas (yes! Alexandre Dumas père) only offers us this pumpkin soup: “ Pumpkin soup. — Cut your pumpkin into small pieces in your saucepan, pour a glass of water over it, let it boil until it is well cooked, then take it out of the water, drain it and pass put it through cheesecloth, wet this puree with milk, add butter which has just been beaten, salt it properly, boil your soup and pour it over croutons passed in butter and cut into diamonds or in deniers. » (p. 876) * * Consumed in West Africa, the modern version of this dish gives us an idea of this preparation of giraumon (pumpkin) that our ancestors knew in their countries of origin. African recipe (found on the web) Pumpkin supper from West Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) This pumpkin supper is more of a thick stew and is served with rice (Serves: 4-6:) Ingredients: 1 medium giraumon peeled, removed from its seeds and cut into cubes 2 fresh tomatoes, crushed 1 tbsp. to s. tomato paste 1 large onion, chopped 4 tbsp. to s. palm oil 1 stock cube 300 gr of meat, cut into cubes (optional) 1 tbsp. to s. fish, previously boiled, without bones or smoked fish Black or white pepper. Hot pepper salt to taste 1 l. water 2 tbsp. to s. peanut butter or manba (optional) This is a modern version of an old recipe because of the presence of the stock cube. I taught in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Provinces of Kwango, North Kivu (pron. kivou) and Kivu (pron. kivou). To my knowledge, this soup was not one of the ordinary dishes. However, giraumons existed. All Haitian families of teachers kept the custom of pumpkin supper traditional of the day of the year. * African Diaspora: I ate in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, from theoops pumpkin almost in every way similar to ours except that at Anna’s pension (originally from Saint Lucia) it was taken on Saturday evenings. Here are the ingredients of one of these West Indian soups found on the Web: West Indian beef soup 100 gr. of corned beef 3 potatoes 3 leeks ¼ cabbage 3 turnips 1 carrot 250 gr. spinach 2 onions 200 gr. pumpkin 2 stalks of celery Sorrel 50 gr. of butter Oil. * There pumpkin supper also exists in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. It only resembles ours in giraumon which is one of its essential ingredients. * Jamaica pumpkin supper is known in Jamaica: Jamaican giraumon beef soup Serves: 6 Ingredients: 2 l. of water 1 lb. soup or beef bones for stew ½ lb. carrots cut into cubes ¼ lb. turnips cut into cubes 1 lb. Caribbean giraumon (or butternut squash) cut into cubes 1 sprig of thyme 2 green onions (chives) 1 tbsp. tbsp. salt Ingredients for the donbrèy: 2 t. flour 1½ tsp. teaspoon salt ½ t. cold water [traduction] [www.sparkpeople.com]. The previous recipe emphasizes that the addition of donbrèy is optional. * Visiting Nassau, Bahamas, in 1994, I was invited by the pastor of the Baptist Church and his wife to eat the pumpkin supper Sundaybefore worship. I was a little surprised to find that the soup, in every way, similar to our traditional one, also contained small donbrèy. The couple is from Port-de-Paix. Was this a custom in this corner of Haiti or had the pastor’s wife adopted this new addition to our traditional recipe? *Brazil: pumpkin soup (pumpkin) with ham 1 pumpkin, about 7k.2 8 large yellow onions 1 clove of garlic or ½ according to your taste 8 hot green or red peppers 8 liters of chicken broth ½ cup of peanut oil 3 lbs of ham or ham hock 4 -5 bay leaves Salt and pepper to taste Pinch of nutmeg and pinch of cardamom (optional) Clean the pumpkin; remove the seeds. Cut it into small pieces. Brown the onions and garlic in the peanut oil, add the 8 liters of chicken broth; there pumpkin (pumpkin), hot peppers, ham. When the pumpkin is tender, puree. Allow to simmer slowly for over 30 minutes. This recipe serves a large number of people (around 40). This soup freezes well; you might want to add lemon juice or orange juice to the contents before freezing the extra soup. It is rich and can be served with a dollop of sour cream. [ma traduction] [www.cooks.com] * As Jerry & Ivrose Gilles explain, notre pumpkin supper traditional New Year’s Day does not come to us from France. The examples given above: Guadeloupe, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nassau, Brazil, all countries where the African tradition remains alive, clearly show this. Let us note, finally, that the months of December and January are the months when giraumonts (pumpkin) are found in quantity in Haiti. Does this have anything to do with this meal on January 1st? The recipe for this soup has not reached us. Let’s imagine: pieces of beef shank, some fine herbs, giraumon, salt, hot pepper, and here is our dish. We can also understand that after eleven years of war where “scorched earth” was one of the weapons of our ancestors fighting for their freedom and independence, there should not have been much left to put in this soup. Carrots, cabbage, potatoes, if available, could have been added. As for pasta: vermicelli, macaroni, these would be fairly recent additions dating back, perhaps, to the end of the 19th century.. French cuisine of the time knew noodles, but I doubt that “on this beautiful day of our” independence our cooks would have had this refined ingredient at their disposal..
