Carnival (Kanaval). Held in February or early March, the three days before Ash Wednesday. The biggest celebration in the Haitian calendar. Port-au-Prince's carnival is massive and raucous, centered on competing musical floats (chars) blasting kompa, rara, and zouk. Jacmel's carnival is smaller, more artistic, and internationally famous for its extraordinary handmade papier-mâché masks and costumes — a tradition dating to the 19th century.
Rara season. In the weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter, rara bands take to the countryside. These processional groups — led by bamboo vaksin horns, drums, and a crowd of followers — roam the roads at night, a fusion of Vodou practice, social gathering, and street theater. Rara is most visible in rural areas and is deeply connected to Vodou societies.
Fet Gede (Guédé Festival). November 1–2 (All Saints and All Souls Day). The most important Vodou observance in the public calendar. Celebrants dressed in purple and black flood the National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince and cemeteries across the country, making offerings to the Guédé — the spirits of the dead. Baron Samedi, the most famous lwa, is honored here. The atmosphere is both solemn and celebratory; the Guédé are known for their crude humor alongside their power over death.
St. Jacques (Ogou) Pilgrimage, Plaine du Nord. In late July, thousands of Vodou devotees travel to Plaine du Nord, near Cap-Haïtien, to bathe in a mud pit sacred to Ogou, the lwa of war and iron. One of the most striking religious gatherings in the hemisphere.
New Year / Independence Day, January 1. Haiti's independence day coincides with New Year's Day. Families gather, soup joumou is eaten, and celebrations mark both the new year and the 1804 declaration of independence — still a profound source of national identity.