Krik? Krak!

Krik? Krak! Glossary

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.

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